ft 


HOWTOBE 

PERSONAUDT  EFFICIENT 

IN  BUSINESS 


87  PLANS  AND  SHORT  GUIS 
USED  AND  PROVED  AT  THE 
DESKS  OF  43  EXECUTIVES 


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HOW  TO  BE 

PERSONALLY  EFFICIENT 
IN  BUSINESS 


HOW  TO  SYSTEMATIZE  YOURSELF 
AND  YOUR  BUSINESS— HOW  TO  MANAGE 
TODAY'S  WORK  AND  PLAN  TOMORROW'S 
HOW  TO  HANDLE  ROUTINE  AND  COR- 
RESPONDENCE—HOW    TO    SAVE 
TIME  AND  MULTIPLY  RESULTS 


TENTH  REVISED  EDITION 


A.  W.  SHAW  COMPANY 

CHICAGO  NEW  YORK 

A.  W.  SHAW  COMPANY,  Ltd.,  LONDON 

1915 


THE  MAGAZINE  OF  BUSINESS 

SYSTEM  "HOW-BOOKS" 

How  TO  INCREASE  YOOR  SALES 

How  TO  INCREASE  A  BANK'S  DEPOSITS 

How  TO  BE  PERSONALLY  EFFICIENT  IN  BUSINESS 

How  TO  INCREASE  THE  SALES  OF  THE  STORK 

How  TO  SELL  REAL  ESTATE  AT  A  PROFIT 

How  TO  SELL  MORE  LIFE  INSURANCE 

How  TO  SELL  MORE  FIRE  INSURANCE 

How  TO  WRITE  LETTERS  THAT  WIN 

How  TO  TALK  BUSINESS  TO  WIN 

How  TO  WRITE  ADVERTISEMENTS  THAT  SELL 

How  TO  SELL  OFFICE  APPLIANCES  AND  SUPPLIES 

How  TO  COLLECT  MONEY  BY  MAIL 

How  TO  FINANCE  A  BUSINESS 

How  TO  RUN  A  STORE  AT  A  PROFIT 

How  TO  ADVERTISE  A  BANK 

How  TO  MANAGE  AN  OFFICE 

FACTORY  "HOW-BOOKS" 

How  TO  GET  MORE  OUT  OF  YOUR  FACTORY 

How  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT  is  APPLIED 

How  TO  GET  WORKMEN 

How  TO  MANAGE  MEN 

How  TO  SYSTEMATIZE  YOUR  FACTORY 

STANDARD   SETS 

THE  KNACK  OF  SELLING 

(In  Six  Books) 

BUSINESS  CORRESPONDENCE  LIBRARY 

(Three  Volumes) 

BUSINESS  MAN'S  ENCYCLOPEDIA 
(Two  Volumes) 

BUSINESS  MAN'S  LIBRARY 
(Ten  Volumes) 

LIBRARY  OF  BUSINESS  PRACTICE 
(Ten  Volumes) 

LIBRARY   OF   FACTORY   MANAGEMENT 

(Six  Volume!) 

STANDARD  VOLUMES 

THE  AUTOMATIC  LETTER  WRITER 
BUSINESS  ADMINISTRATION 
MORE  POWER  FROM  COAL 

GOOD  WILL,  TRADE-MARKS  AND 
UNFAIR  TRADING 

KEEPING  UP  WITH  RISING  COSTS 
Other  Business  Books  in  Preparation 


THE  MAGAZINE  (/MANAGEMENT 


COPYRIGHT,  1915,  BY 
A.  W.  SHAW  COMPANY 


CONTENTS 


PAET  I 

THE  BASIS  OF  PERSONAL  SYSTEM 
Make  Yourself 

CHAPTER                                                                                  PAGB 
L    SYSTEM  IN  THE  MAN 6 

II.  GUIDE  POSTS  TO  RESULTS 12 

III.  SYSTEM  IN  THE  DESK 16 

IV.  PUTTING  THE  SYSTEM  INTO  PRACTICE 27 

V.  THE  EXECUTIVE'S  DESK  PARTNER 31 

PAET  11 

TAKING  CAEE  OF  DETAILS 
Forget  It 

VI.    FIRST  AIDS  TO  THE  MEMORY -.-.  42 

VII.    THE  TICKLER  AS  A  BUSINESS  GETTER 49 

VEIL    AN  EMERGENCY  STOCK  or  FACTS 57 

PAET  111 

HANDLING  THE  DAY'S  WORK 
Keep  Going 

IX.    PLANNING  THE  WORK  AHEAD r<r.  62 

X.    THE  STEPS  IN  THE  DAY'S  WORK 71 

XI.      ROUTINB  FOR  THE  DESK  MAN'S  ASSISTANT.  .  .    75 


4  CONTENTS 

PAST  IV 

WRITING  A  BUSINESS-GETTING  LETTEE 
Know  jhe  Facts 

CHAPTER                                                                                     PAGE 
XII.    WINNING  THE  READER  's  ATTENTION 80 

XIII.  CREATING  A  DESIRE  TO  BUY . 85 

XIV.  THE  CLIMAX  THAT  BRINGS  ORDERS 90 

XV.    THE  AUTOMATIC  CORRESPONDENT 94 

PAST  V 

SHORT  CUTS  THAT  WILL  SAVE  TIME 
Use  the  Minutes 

XVI.    MAKING  THE  MOST  OF  MINUTES 104 

XVII.    SHORT  CUTS  THAT  BEAT  THE  OFFICE  CLOCK 108 

XVIII.    LITTLE  SCHEMES  FOR  SAVING  TIMB..  ..Ill 


Part  I 


THE  BASIS  OF  PERSONAL 
SYSTEM 


Make  Yourself 

O  YSTEM  is  a  living  being.  Its  home  is 
^  your  business  office — your  workshop 
— your  factory — your  store;  even  your 
desk.  It  lives  on  your  work — devours  your 
detail. 

Your  system  is  your  creature.  You 
fashion  it  yourself.  You  may  make  it  do 
the  very  things  you  want  it  to  do — or  you 
may  let  it  grow  rank  and  suffocate  your 
business.  You  alone  can  make  it  a  good 
system  or  a  bad  system. 

Your  system  should  be  your  junior  part- 
ner. If  sickness  keeps  you  at  home,  you 
need  not  worry,  provided  your  system 
prevails  in  the  business. 

System  is  your  second  self — the  self  which 
works  while  you  play ;  which  catches  the 
reins  when  you  retire.  Be  studious  of 
system  if  you  would  be  sure  of  yourself. 


CHAPTER  I 
System  in  the  Man 

IT  DOES  not  need  a  million  dollar  responsibility  and 
a  $10,000  job  to  develop  a  good  executive.  Clerk  or 
accountant,  and  even  office  boy,  if  he  has  the  care  of 
a  desk  and  its  contents,  have  just  as  good  an  opportunity 
to  ground  themselves  in  the  principles  of  system  and 
management  as  the  high-salaried  department  head,  if 
they  are  as  ready  to  take  advantage  of  it. 

System  means  simply  the  ability  to  get  the  thing  done ; 
to  get  it  done  thoroughly,  and  to  get  it  done  on  time.  It 
does  not  mean  cards  and  blanks,  red  tape  and  f  ol-de-rol ; 
it  means  doing  the  task  nearest  at  hand ;  doing  it  in  sea- 
son; and  doing  it  in  full.  If  a  man  puts  this  trinity 
of  effort  into  every  task  that  comes  up,  day  after  day, 
year  in  and  year  out,  it  matters  not  whether  he  makes 
out  bills  on  a  bookkeeper's  stool  or  general  orders  at  the 
director's  table,  system  will  develop  in  thought  and  act. 
Directors  of  great  works  are  first  masters  of  themselves, 
their  desks,  their  every  effort. 

The  Most  Lowly  Desk  May  be  Made  a  Training  Table 
for  System 

No  matter  how  lowly  and  unimportant  the  desk,  it  can 
be  made  to  provide  a  complete  training  course  in  system 


SYSTEM  IN  THE  MAN  £ 

and  organization,  if  its  owner  cares  to  make  it  so.  Re- 
cently, in  an  article  on  personal  routine,  a  director  of  a 
large  Ohio  corporation  makes  this  shrewd  observation: 
"It  is  not  only  unnecessary  to  wait  for  larger  opportu- 
nities than  your  desk  provides — it  is  unwise.  You  may 
never  get  the  larger  opportunities,  and  even  if  you  do, 
they  may  come  too  late.  You  may  find  that  you  were 
not  sufficiently  grounded  in  the  rudiments  of  system  as 
presented  in  your  everyday,  individual  work,  to  make 
you  truly  fit  to  master  the  higher  and  more  intricate 
branches." 

The  clerk  who  keeps  an  orderly  desk  uses  much  the 
same  sort  of  ingenuity  and  method  used  by  the  manager 
who  keeps  an  orderly  business.  When  the  clerk  keeps 
his  desk  free  of  chaos,  dead  wood  and  red  tape ;  when  he 
handles  a  multiplicity  of  detail  with  methodical  precision 
and  dispatch;  when  he  completes  each  task  and  proves 
its  accuracy  before  passing  it  on  to  someone  else;  when 
he  checks  up  each  day's  work  at  night  and  satisfies  him- 
self that  he  has  overlooked  no  promise  and  forgotten  no 
task;  when  he  makes  these  things  an  unchanging  part 
of  his  day's  routine,  and  does  them  with  the  unfailing 
certainty  of  a  machine,  week  in  and  week  out — he  is 
training  himself  in  the  very  basic  principles  of  business 
organization— training  himself  in  capacities  that  will 
enable  him  to  handle  with  ease  the  heavier  tasks  that 
will  come  with  promotion  later  on. 

Self-Made  System  and  What  It  Does  Toward 
Success 

The  systematic  office  man  is  like  any  other  flesh  and 
blood  success;  he  is  not  born  with  his  equipment  full- 
fledged  and  ready-made;  he  either  makes  it  himself,  or 


8       BASIS  OF  PERSONAL  SYSTEM 

has  it  made  for  him.  In  the  latter  case,  he  gets  his  sys- 
tem from  a  fatherly  department  head,  who  takes  him 
under  his  wing,  and  schools  and  coaches  him  in  sys- 
tematic precepts  until  "the  pupil  learns  by  rote  the 
methods  of  the  master." 

But  most  systematic  men — and  the  best  of  them — 
make  themselves — and  the  system  in  these  men  is  real, 
enduring  and  ingrained.  The  self-made  system  man 
invents  his  own  system  and  invents  it  because  he  finds 
it  necessary.  He  has  to  discover  a  way  to  keep  ahead  of 
the  other  fellow  and  in  devising  such  a  way,  he  cultivates 
not  only  system,  but  his  initiative  and  originality. 

The  self-made  system  man  accepts  and  uses  system 
early  in  his  career,  because  he  discovers  that  it  is  the 
easiest  way  "to  get  the  thing  done."  He  finds  that 
orderliness,  promptness  and  a  positive  hatred  of  the  ex- 
cuse, "I  forgot,"  are  just  as  necessary  as  hard  work; 
that  the  clever  lazy  man  may  outclass  the  most  conscien- 
tious plodder  who  does  not  pause  to  plan ;  in  fact  that  the 
hardest  task  can  be  made  the  easiest  if  he  applies  a  little 
system  and  ingenuity  to  it. 

The  systematic  habit  starts  with  system  in  the  little 
things.  The  general  manager  with  the  seemingly  ex- 
haustless  capacity  for  detail  may  have  started  as  the 
clever  order  clerk,  who  found  that  he  could  make  out 
three  times  as  many  orders  in  a  day,  by  using  a  triplicate 
order  system  instead  of  copying  each  order  over  three 
times.  Again,  perhaps  he  began  as  the  'ambitious  cor- 
respondent who  used  the  "form  paragraph"  system  and 
by  judicious  use  of  these  forms,  answered  twice  as  many 
letters  as  the  higher  salaried  correspondent  who  dictated 
every  letter  in  full.  Or  he  may  even  have  commenced 
as  the  office  boy  who  made  short  cuts  in  his  desk  clean- 


SYSTEM  IN  THE  MAN  9 

iiig,  or  in  his  keeping  of  office  supplies,  so  he  could  ask 
for  something  else  to  keep  him  busy. 

When  Opportunity  Knocks,  the  Systematic  Man  Has  His 
Hand  on  the  Door  Knob 

The  success  of  system  in  these  minor  things  inevitably 
creates  more  system  in  larger  ones.  At  his  own  desk, 
within  his  own  affairs,  the  desk  man  finds  the  schooling 
that  eventually  makes  the  systematic  course  of  action  the 
obvious  course  in  every  problem  he  undertakes.  When 
promotion  comes,  he  does  not  have  to  organize  and  train 
himself  to  fill  it;  he  is  an  organized  man  when  the  big 
opportunity  calls  him;  and  his  business  or  department 
becomes  well  organized  in  turn,  because  he  knows  no 
other  way  to  direct  his  affairs  so  easily  and  profitably. 

All  this  is  true  and  commonplace  enough  to  all  ex- 
perienced office  men.  Yet  how  many  employers  have 
ever  made  any  definite,  persistent  effort  to  school  their 
clerks  and  assistants  in  method  and  organization?  An 
employer  will  eagerly  and  gladly  pay  thousands  of  dol- 
lars to  have  a  corps  of  system  specialists  come  into  his 
business  and  put  system  into  his  books  and  his  records,— 
but  who  can  name  an  employer  who  ever  spent  this 
money  to  put  system  into  his  Men? 

If  any  employer  ever  did  make  this  expenditure  he 
wouldn't  find  it  necessary  to  call  in  experts  to  fix  up  his 
books,  or  to  doctor  his  methods,  for  few  businesses 
manned  by  trained,  systematic,  methodical  men  inside 
ever  need  "fixing"  by  outside  specialists. 

In  most  houses  it  is  thought  fully  enough  to  send 
around  stereotyped  and  moss-covered  mottoes,  and  to  dec- 
orate the  office  walls  with  time-worn  platitudes  on  "Do- 
ing It  Right"  and  "Doing  It  Now,"  etc.— but  seldom 


10  BASIS  OF  PERSONAL  SYSTEM 

are  there  any  definite  system-plans  and  short-cuts  given 
to  the  desk  man  to  facilitate  his  routine  and  increase  hia 
capacity. 

Develop  the  Human  Machine  and  the  Metal  Will  Shape 

Itself 

In  some  businesses,  a  department  of  $5,000  experts 
and  inventors  is  maintained  solely  to  study  ways  and 
means  of  increasing  the  output  of  the  factory  machines. 
If  some  shrewd  manager  would  devote  a  mere  fraction  of 
this  expenditure  to  studying  ways  and  means  to  increase 
the  output  of  his  human  machines,  he  might  easily  reap 
more  dividends  than  the  worth  of  his  whole  machinery 
equipment. 

The  arrival  of  a  corps  of  business  experts  and  the 
installation  of  new  machinery  often  arouse  animosity 
among  employees,  for  they  fear  that  their  jobs  are  thus 
jeopardized.  Rather  than  have  all  of  the  attention  de- 
voted to  the  machinery  of  the  plant,  the  men  would  pre- 
fer that  some  notice  be  given  to  them.  Any  one  of  them 
would  be  gratified  to  be  shown  a  way  to  do  his  work 
easier  and  better.  For  while  we  are  all  more  or  less 
lazy,  we  take  pride  in  work  well  done.  Regardless  of  the 
development  of  the  machines  of  the  future,  the  man  be- 
hind them  will  continue  to  remain  the  vital  factor  in 
production. 

Toward  him,  therefore,  the  employer  must  bend  his 
energy.  He  must  make  him  systematic,  for  that  is  the 
basis  of  profit-making  productivity. 

A  course  of  instruction  in  desk  system  can  accomplish 
three  definite  and  vital  results.  It  can  increase  the 
capacity  of  each  desk  and  thereby  reduce  the  number  of 
employees  needed  for  any  given  piece  of  labor.  It  can 


SYSTEM  IN  THE  MAN  11 

increase  the  quality  and  accuracy  of  the  work  turned 
out.  And  lastly,  it  can  train  up  and  develop  more 
valuable  men  for  the  future. 

But  it  cannot  be  done  by  platitudes  or  maxims, — by 
passing  around  "copy-book"  instructions  and  "Do  It 
Now"  mottoes.  It  means  a  careful  analysis  of  the  exact 
classes  of  work  handled  by  all  employees,  and  actual 
specific  schemes  and  short  cuts  worked  out  to  expedite 
and  accomplish  this  work,  in  the  least  time,  with  the 
best  results. 


Dividends  on   Mistakes 

A  MISTAKE  may  be  made  the  key- 
•**•  stone  of  system — the  foundation 
of  success.  The  secret  is  simple :  Don't 
make  the  same  mistake  twice. 

The  misspelling  of  a  customer's  name 
— an  error  in  your  accounting  method — 
an  unfulfilled  promise ;  these  are  valu- 
able assets  if  they  teach  you  exactness. 

Let  your  mistakes  shape  your  system 
and  your  system  will  prevent  such  mis- 
takes. When  you  discover  a  mistake, 
sit  down  then  and  there,  and  arrange 
the  system  to  prevent  its  repetition. 

Paint  it  on  your  walls;  emblazon  it  on 
your  door;  frame  it  over  your  desk ; 
say  it  to  your  stenographer  ;  think  it  to 
yourself ;  burn  it  into  your  brain ;  this 
one  secret  of  system,  tnis  one  essential 
to  success:  DON'T  MAKE  THE 
SAME  MISTAKE  TWICE. 


CHAPTER  II 
Guide  Posts  to  Results 

DON'T"  grates  on  our  sensibilities — it  is  equivalent 
to  rubbing  the  hair  the  wrong  way.  We  don't 
like  negative  orders.  There  are,  however,  a  few  rules 
and  generalities,  that  are  a  necessary  part  of  a  course 
in  desk  routine.  These  rules  are  the  axioms  of  desk  sys- 
tem, and  every  office  man  should  get  them  firmly  fixed 
in  his  mind  before  he  attempts  to  put  in  practice  the 
broader,  more  complex  principles  of  desk  management 
These  rules  have  been  printed  a  great  many  times, 
in  part  and  in  whole,  but  they  are  presented  here  as  they 
were  given  to  all  the  employees  of  a  great  middle  west 
corporation,  with  orders  to  read  them  and  memorize 
them,  as  they  would  a  catechism  of  business  success. 

A  Series  of  "Don'ts"  Which  Save  Time  and  FUl  tin* 
Money  Drawer 

Rule  1. — Don't  let  go  of  a  single  paper,  a  letter  or  a 
duty  of  any  kind  entrusted  to  your  care  for  execution, 
until  you  have  made  a  "tickler"  memo  of  it,  so  you  can 
follow  it  up  to  the  end  and  know  what  becomes  of  it 

"Rule  2.— Interview  your  tickler  every  morning.  Make 
it  the  first  "office  assistant"  you  see  and  consult  at 

it 


GUIDE  POSTS  TO  RESULTS       13 

every  day's  beginning.  Then  plan  your  day's  work,  in 
accordance  with  what  the  tickler  tells  you  to  do  on  that 
day. 

Rule  3. — After  the  tickler  has  been  consulted,  and  you 
have  clearly  fixed  in  your  mind  the  important  things 
that  must  be  done  to-day,  the  new  papers  coming  over 
your  desk  next  deserve  attention. 

Rule  4. — Whatever  unfinished  work  you  have  left  over 
at  night,  should  always  be  left  in  the  upper  right  hand 
drawer  of  your  desk.  This  does  not  mean  part  of  your 
unfinished  work — and  the  rest  of  it  scattered  through 
fifty-seven  different  pigeon-holes  and  compartments.  It 
means  all  of  it;  the  first  rule  of  system  is  to  have  one 
definite,  unvarying  place  for  each  kind  of  work.  If  by 
any  chance  you  can't  get  it  all  in  that  drawer,  see  that 
a  memo  is  placed  in  the  drawer,  showing  where  the  over- 
flow can  be  found. 

Rule  5. — Men  who  make  and  break  promises  are  not 
always  men  who  are  intentionally  dishonest.  Sometimes 
they  are  simply  good  natured,  and  dislike  to  say  "No" 
when  asked  to  accomplish  a  given  task.  Yet  there  is 
no  worker  who  causes  more  trouble  for  others,  and  more 
.unhappiness  for  himself,  than  the  man  who  continually 
makes  loose  agreements,  without  first  carefully  calculat- 
ing their  feasibility. 

To  break  this  habit  should  be  the  foremost  purpose  of 
the  system  man.  Let  him  resolve  to  make  no  agreement, 
either  spoken  or  written,  as  to  the  delivery  or  shipment 
of  goods,  the  completion  of  a  task,  the  accomplishment  of 
any  business  contract,  until  he  has  fully  investigated  all 
the  conditions  and  knows  to  a  certainty  that  his  prom- 
ise can  be  easily  and  promptly  fulfilled — that  it  will  be 
so  fulfilled. 


14  BASIS  OF  PERSONAL  SYSTEM 

Rule  6. — "When  you  make  a  promise,  make  a  note  of 
it  Put  it  down  in  good  big  black  and  white  on  your 
tickler,  and  then  use  every  energy  within  your  power  to 
see  that  it  is  fulfilled.  The  tickler  memoranda  should 
keep  coming  around,  like  a  troublesome  book  agent,  to 
remind  you  of  your  promise,  keeping  you  in  touch  with 
every  stage  of  the  work  that  has  been  done  on  it,  and 
then  should  come  up  finally  about  two  days  ahead  of  the 
maturity  of  your  promise,  so  that  it  can  be  investigated 
carefully  and  final  action  put  through. 

Rule  7. — It  is  human  to  err,  and  when  you  find  you 
have  been  extravagant  in  your  agreement,  notify  the 
"promisee,"  explain  the  situation,  and  give  him  a  re- 
vised promise.  Don't  wait  for  him  to  notify  you;  fore- 
stall his  criticism  by  a  frank  admission  of  a  mistake, 
explain  the  circumstances,  and  get  him  to  admit  the 
justification  of  the  delay.  All  men  are  reasonable;  a 
letter  of  explanation  "in  time  saves  nine"  of  complaints 
later  on. 

Rule  8. — A  manager  is  the  first  man  entitled  to  know 
what  is  going  on.  If  a  crisis  arises,  he  should  be  the 
first  man  to  know  of  it,  because  he  must  be  the  first  man 
to  weigh,  consider,  decide  and  act.  All  new  work  or 
new  correspondence  coming  into  a  department  should 
pass  first  into  its  manager's  hands.  After  that,  further 
details  can  be  taken  up  by  those  outside  of  the  depart- 
ment with  the  superintendents,  the  correspondents  or 
clerks. 

Developing  an  Office  Spirit — A  Dynamo  of  Busines* 
Energy 

It  should  be,  lastly,  the  endeavor  of  every  office  man 
to  carry  into  his  work  an  office  spirit.  Let  him  remember: 


GUIDE  POSTS  TO  RESULTS  16 

To  see  that  everyone  receives  equal  consideration. 

To  keep  every  promise. 

To  forget  nothing  turned  over  to  him. 

To  keep  always  abreast  of  all  work. 

To  look  ahead  in  his  work— plan  for  the  future  as 
well  as  take  care  of  the  work  of  today. 

And  finally,  to  study  his  own  individual  position,  and 
the  work  in  his  charge  so  as  to  impress,  broaden  and 
economize, 


Off  Coats  and  Dig 

SUCCESS  NUGGETS  do  not  lie 
scattered  about  the  surface-soil  of 
the  business  gold-mine.  Work — hard, 
relentless,  pick-and-shovel  work — alone 
unearths  life's  greatest  prizes. 

Quit  scraping  over  the  surface  of 
your  business  chances — quit  remaining 
content  with  the  pay-dirt  on  the  outer 
edges  of  your  commercial  prospects. 
There  is  a  nugget  in  every  opportunity 
—if  you  only  deive  deep  enough  to  get  it. 

And  don't  merely  dig,  without  aim  or 
method.  Just  as  the  miner  assays  his 
claim  before  he  sinks  his  shaft,  so  should 
you  probe  each  business  possibility  be- 
fore you  begin  to  work  it. 

First  locate  your  claim — your  main 
chance.  Then  prove  it.  Then  plan 
your  system  to  work  it.  Then  take  off 
your  coat  and  Dig. 


CHAPTER  III 
System  in  the  Desk 

A  DESK  is  not  meant  to  be  a  junk  heap  or  a  rem- 
nant counter  for  accumulating  every  imaginable 
kind  of  commercial  material.  It  is  a  business  work 
bench,  and  every  inch,  corner  and  crevice  of  its  space 
should  be  devoted  to  holding  just  those  things  needed  in 
the  day's  routine — to  these  solely  and  wholly — and  to 
nothing  more. 

A  carpenter  would  have  a  pretty  time  getting  at  his 
working  utensils  speedily  and  conveniently  if  he  buried 
them  every  day  under  the  chips  and  shavings  of  his 
work.  Clear  away  the  debris  of  the  day's  campaign 
after  it  is  finished.  Don't  allow  the  waste  products — the 
chips  and  shavings  of  your  labor — to  pile  up  in  desk 
drawers  and  pigeon-holes.  Don't  let  the  matters  that 
are  "dead  and  gone"  cover  up  and  blot  out  the  live 
active  material  you  have  to  refer  to  constantly.  Make 
your  desk  an  orderly  workshop,  with  every  tool  in  its 
own  proper  place— and  nothing  else  within  its  com- 
partments that  has  no  everyday  working  purpose. 

This  may  seem  very  simple  and  commonplace  advice 
to  the  hardened  desk-pioneer.  Condensed,  it  says  simply 
"Be  Neat,"  Yet  it  is  the  one  great  heart-secret  of  sys- 


SYSTEM  IN  THE  DESK  17 

tern,  and  we  must  begin  to  observe  it  right  here  and 
now,  if  we  are  ever  to  possess  and  master  a  complete  and 
perfect  desk  system. 

Sweeping  Out  the  Rubbish,  and  Beginning  Anew  with  a 
Clean  Desk 

Let  us  begin  this  system-installation  then,  with  a  first- 
class  house  cleaning.  Let  us  sweep  out  the  old  order 
before  we  put  in  the  new  one.  We  will  begin  with  the 
lower  deep  drawer,  for  that  is  the  drawer  foremost  in 
' '  dusty  uncertainties. ' '  Have  you  had  any  use  for  those 
dog-eared  paper  bundles  piled  knee  high  in  its  "bot- 
tomless depths?"  Suppose  you  had  to  locate  instantly, 
the  contract  you  placed  in  this  drawer  a  week  ago,  could 
you  put  your  hand  down  into  the  unclassified  junk  heap 
and  immediately  extract  the  desired  document?  And 
take  the  drawer  on  the  opposite  side, — how  many  times 
have  you  had  occasion  to  consult  a  single  one  of  the 
countless  catalogs  and  price-lists  you  have  tossed  into  it 
carelessly  and  thoughtlessly  day  after  day  during  the 
past  year?  Once?  Twice?  Then  clear  them  out  and 
put  them  somewhere  else.  Get  a  special  file  for  them  if 
necessary,  but  don't  let  matters  which  you  will  refer  to, 
at  best,  but  once  a  month,  interfere  with  data  you  must 
consult  perhaps  once  a  day. 

Now  then,  with  a  clean  desk  at  the  start,  the  prob- 
lem is  to  keep  it  clean — to  make  it  as  orderly  as  a  puri- 
tanical copy  book,  with  a  place  and  a  system  for  taking 
care  of  every  kind  of  material  that  comes  within  the 
desk  domain.  For  we  want  no  back-sliding  desks,  no 
relapses  to  the  old  disordered  order.  No  signing  the 
system  pledge  only  to  break  it  when  the  test  of  rush 
work  comes. 


18  BASIS  OF  PERSONAL  SYSTEM 

The  first  great  law  of  system  is  classification — a  right 
place  for  the  right  thing.  Classification  is  almost  a 
synonym  of  systematization.  It  is  bringing  order  out 
of  chaos,  having  one  definite  everlasting  location  for  each 
definite  kind  of  material — and  keeping  that  material 
always  there. 

A  bookkeeper  with  a  million  accounts  can  always  turn 
to  each  one,  because  there  is  only  one  place  to  look  for  it, 
and  it  is  always  in  that  place.  Classification,  and  an 
index,  do  the  trick.  It  is  these  that  enable  you  to  put  a 
thousand  subjects  in  an  encyclopedia,  or  a  thousand 
kinds  of  merchandise  in  a  stock  room,  and  yet  find  in  a 
flash  any  particular  subject  or  article  you  may  demand. 

Indexing  the  Workshop,  and  Establishing  a  Desk  Sys- 
tem—Four Kinds  of  Materials 

A  business  man  should  divide  up  his  desk,  its  com- 
partments and  its  contents  as  a  bookkeeper  does  his 
accounts, — one  place  for  this  kind  of  material,  another 
place  for  that  kind,  and  so  on  through  all  the  classifica- 
tions of  his  work  and  papers, — each  place  arranged  ju- 
diciously and  conveniently,  to  best  facilitate  the  day's 
routine. 

There  are  four  kinds  of  material  that  should  remain 
in  the  office  man's  desk,  after  it  has  been  stripped  of  the 
dead  wood. 

1.  The  unfinished  matters — letters  and  papers  he  is 
now  working  on. 

2.  The  matters  pending  or  papers  held  up  for  atten- 
tion at  a  future  date. 

3.  The  completed  matters — letters  and  data — that  have 
had  attention  and  are  ready  to  file  or  to  go  to  some  one 
else. 


SYSTEM  IN  THE  DESK 


19 


4.  The  business  working  tools ;  stationery,  letterheads, 
pen  and  ink,  ruler,  shears,  etc. 

There  are  two  divisions  to  the  first  classification.  Some 
of  our  unfinished  work  will  brook  no  delay,  we  must  do 
it  to-day,  if  ever.  The  rest  of  the  unfinished  work, 
while  it  demands  early  attention,  does  not  necessarily 
require  immediate  completion. 

The  work  to  be  completed  today  should  not  be  placed 
in  the  desk  drawers  at  all;  it  should  be  kept  on  top, 


DAY'S  WORK  BOLDER 


THINGS  TO  DO  TO-DAY! 


Form  I:     By  tying  four  stout  folders  together,  a  portfolio  such  as  this  can  be 
Stationery  stores  sell  leather  bound  folders 


20  BASIS  OF  PERSONAL  SYSTEM 

staring  us  in  the  face,  right  beneath  our  hands  and  our 
eyes,  silently  urging  attention.  For  work  of  this  im- 
mediate classification,  we  need  a  "Day's  Work"  portfolio 
(Form  I),  which  may  consist  of  four  or  five  folders  tied 
together  with  a  string,  each  folder  holding  a  special 
classification  of  to-day's  work.  These  classifications  may 
be  labeled  to  suit  the  character  and  needs  of  your  own 
work,  but  generally  a  compartment  should  be  devoted  to 
"Letters  Beady  to  Dictate,"  another  one  to  "Matters 
to  Do  To-day,"  another  to  "Things  to  Take  up  With 
A,"  etc. 

The  balance  of  our  unfinished  work,  though  it  should 
not  be  kept  on  the  working  surface  of  the  desk,  should 
be  kept  as  near  to  it  as  possible.  For  as  soon  as  we  clean 
up  the  duties  in  the  Day's  Work  portfolio,  we  want 
to  attack  the  remainder  of  our  uncompleted  labor.  So 
we  will  secure  another  portfolio  (one  of  the  same  kind 
will  do),  label  it  the  "Unfinished  Work"  portfolio,  and 
place  it  in  the  upper  right  hand  drawer  of  the  desk,  get- 
at-able  with  but  a  single  movement  of  the  right  hand. 

A  Correspondence  File  that  Eliminates  the  Memory — 
Specific  Information 

With  this  much  of  the  unfinished  work  disposed  of, 
we  find  we  still  have  another  class  of  matters  to  handle, 
and  it  is  this  class  that  causes  most  all  desk  troubles  and 
confusion.  These  are  the  papers  we  wish  to  hold  over 
for  some  purpose  or  other.  The  time  is  not  yet  ripe  to 
give  them  attention;  we  wish  to  get  more  information 
or  data  before  answering  Brown's  letter;  or  we  wish  to 
wait  twenty  days  before  we  write  to  Stuart.  For  this 
we  want  a  special  indexed  file  (Form  II),  one  that  will 
enable  us  to  file  Stuart's  letter  twenty  days  ahead,  and 


SYSTEM  IN  THE  DESK 


Form  II:    The  expansive  Hold  Over  file,  indexed  by  days,  by  months,  and  alphabet- 
ically, for  holding  papers  pending  information  or  follow-up 


22  BASIS  OF  PERSONAL  SYSTEM 

then  forget  about  it,  with  the  absolute  assurance  that 
our  file  will  automatically  bring  it  to  our  attention,  when 
the  twenty  days  are  up.  We  will  put  this  file  in  the 
second  right  hand  drawer,  and  file  in  it,  not  only  the 
letters  and  correspondence  that  we  want  brought  to  our 
attention  for  some  purpose  at  a  future  date,  but  all 
matters  we  are  holding  for  further  data  and  information. 
Note  that  this  file  not  only  classifies  matter  by  day  and 
month,  but  alphabetically  as  well.  It  is  a  general  cor- 
respondence file  for  matters  or  letters  pending. 

Establishing  a  Postoffice  on  the  Front  of  the  Desk — 
Getting  Bid  of  Details 

Now  then,  outside  of  our  tools  and  working  material, 
ire  have  left  but  a  single  class  of  papers,  the  completed 
matters  ready  for  the  file  or  for  the  attention  of  some- 
one else.  To  take  care  of  these  we  will  secure  either  a 
three-decker  wire  basket  or  a  messenger  rack  with 
compartments  marked  for  the  special  men  or  depart- 
ments we  wish  to  pass  on  our  work  to,  after  it  has  had 
our  attention.  For  Mr.  A,  for  Mr.  B,  or  for  the  file, 
you  drop  each  completed  paper  into  the  compartment 
marked  for  the  man  or  desk  you  wish  it  to  go  to  next. 
The  office  boy  then  delivers  it  to  the  intended  person. 

A  good  messenger  service  between  one  department 
and  the  others  will  save  an  untold  number  of  steps  in  a 
large  business,  and  will  even  prove  valuable  in  a  small 
one,  where  perhaps  there  are  but  two  workers  who  com- 
municate with  each  other.  Just  this  simple  rack  and  a 
few  minutes  of  the  office  boy's  time  is  all  that  is  neces- 
sary. With  a  messenger  system  in  force  a  desk  man  need 
never  leave  his  desk  during  working  hours,  unless  he 
chooses  to  do  so  for  some  special  purpose. 


SYSTEM  IN  THE  DESK  23 

So  then,  in  these  three  simple  portfolios  we  have  con- 
centrated for  instant  reference  practically  all  of  our 
working  material,  both  the  things  to  do  today  and  the 
things  to  do  in  the  future. 

But  how  shall  we  know  what  is  in  each  folder  with- 
out going  through  them  all,  each  time  we  want  this  in- 
formation? How  shall  we  keep  in  mind  all  the  letters 
and  tasks  in  the  Unfinished  Work  portfolio  and  attend 
to  each  on  the  day  or  hour  it  demands  attention? 

For  this  we  need  an  auxiliary  brain  to  remember  for 
us— the  last  of  the  devices  to  complete  our  desk  equip- 
ment—a desk  tickler. 

An  Auxiliary  Brain  That  Never  Forgets — The  "Tickler" 
Memorandum 

A  desk  tickler  (Form  VI)  is  practically  a  second 
memory  for  the  desk  man — a  brain  that  remembers  all 
he  has  to  do — reminds  him  of  each  task  on  the  right  day, 
and  jogs  him  up  until  he  performs  it. 

As  each  paper  or  group  of  papers  is  filed  in  the  Un- 
finished Work  portfolio,  we  make  a  tickler  memoran- 
dum of  the  work  these  papers  cover,  together  with  the 
day  or  hour  this  work  should  be  attended  to.  The  tickler 
need  be  but  an  ordinary  3x5  card  index  fitted  into  the 
upper  left  hand  drawer  of  the  desk,  indexed  by  the 
thirty-one  days  of  the  month  and  the  twelve  months  of 
the  year.  No  matter  how  insignificant  any  task  is  that 
we  have  to  do,  we  should  make  a  tickler  note  of  it.  If 
we  make  a  promise,  if  we  contract  an  obligation,  if  we 
agree  to  a  certain  delivery  or  shipment  within  a  certain 
time — use  the  tickler.  Tickle  the  date  we  want  the 
promise  brought  to  our  attention  again,  and  leave  the 
rest  to  the  tickler. 


24 


BASIS  OF  PERSONAL  SYSTEM 


All  the  memos  thus  made  in  the  tickler  come  up  auto- 
matically for  attention  on  the  proper  date,  and  will  act 
as  infallible  reminders  that  will  eliminate  all  chances 
of  overlooking  any  detail,  cut  out  all  anxiety  and  con- 
fusion as  to  the  unfinished  work  ahead  of  you,  and  make 
it  possible  to  fulfil  every  promise  and  business  engage- 
ment on  time. 

The  tickler  and  the  Unfinished  Work  file  thus 
hand  in  hand,  take  care  of  nearly  all  the  papers  that 
come  to  your  desk  and  bring  each  to  your  notice  in 
proper  season. 

The  file  in  the  second  drawer — the  "Hold  Over"  file- 
will  be  found  especially  valuable  to  take  care  of  papers 
and  letters  you  are  holding  for  frequent  reference,  such 
as  rough  plans  for  the  future,  memoranda  of  schemes, 


Form  HI:    Sketch  of  desk  showing   working   area  and   all   the  executive's  conven- 
iences arranged  according  to  the  system  described 


SYSTEM  IN  THE  DESK  25 

instructions  from  department  heads,  stockholders'  re- 
ports and  other  information  you  may  not  wish  to  put 
into  the  general  files  and  too  personal  to  be  filed  with 
the  regular  unfinished  work. 

Needles  and  Pins,  a  Man's  Troubles  and  How  to  Bury 
Them  Once  for  All 

There  is  now  left  but  a  single  classification  of  our 
desk  material — the  tools  with  which  we  work.  Ruler, 
scissors,  a  few  extra  pens,  clips,  pins,  etc.  These  should 
be  arranged  in  the  drawer  nearest  the  hand  that  uses 
them — the  wide,  shallow,  middle  drawer.  A  convenient 
arrangement  is  shown  in  the  diagram  (Form  III)  and 
it  will  pay  any  business  man  to  fit  up  his  desk  drawer 
with  compartments  similar  to  those  shown  in  the  illus- 
tration. Without  these  compartments,  every  opening 
and  shutting  of  this  drawer  will  throw  its  contents  into 
confusion. 

It  is  especially  important  to  keep  tickler  slips  handy, 
for  you  use  them  again  and  again  every  working  hour. 
Keep  them  in  a  tray  or  a  box  on  the  surface  of  your 
desk,  and  near  the  ink  stand  where  you  can  get  at  them 
quickly. 

Every  desk  man  finds  that  out  of  the  vast  accumula- 
tions of  circulars  which  arrive  daily  at  his  desk,  there 
are  some  which  he  desires  to  save. 

Today  he  receives  a  catalog  of  goods  for  which  he  is 
soon  to  be  in  the  market.  Tomorrow  he  may  find  on  his 
desk  a  handsome  booklet,  describing  an  office  appliance 
which  he  wishes  to  examine,  some  time  in  the  future. 
Again,  he  is  constantly  receiving  clever  advertising  mat- 
ter which,  if  properly  selected  and  saved,  might  give  him 
valuable  suggestions  upon  making  up  his  own  copy. 


26  BASIS  OF  PERSONAL  SYSTEM 

The  desk  man  is  aware  of  the  usefulness  of  a  large 
amount  of  this  literature,  but  upon  receiving  it,  he  is 
usually  too  busy  to  examine  it  or  select  the  good  from 
the  bad.  Now  in  the  desk  system  which  has  just  been 
described  there  are  three  empty  drawers  beneath  the 
tickler  drawer,  not  provided  for  in  this  classification. 
The  first  of  these,  as  noted  in  the  diagram,  can  well  be 
used  to  care  for  stationery,  envelopes,  scratch  pads  and 
the  like.  But  what  is  to  be  put  in  the  other  two? 

These  are  just  the  receptacles  for  the  catalogs  and 
literature  mentioned  above.  The  first  of  these  drawers 
may  be  used  for  the  catalogs  in  which  are  listed  goods 
the  desk  man  expects  to  buy  in  the  near  future.  The 
bottom  drawer  may  be  used  for  those  pieces  of  advertis- 
ing literature  from  which  he  expects  to  get  suggestions 
for  the  preparation  of  his  own  publicity  matter. 

These  shallow  drawers  will  require  a  few  minutes  of 
attention  and  classification  work  once  a  month.  This 
should  keep  them  up  to  date. 

With  the  new  desk  system  in  force  we  are  now  ready 
for  action.  In  the  next  chapter  we  will  go  through  a 
day's  work  together  and  see  for  ourselves  how  our  new 
system  will  work. 


Desk  Apprenticeship 

THE  desk  man's  tools  are  all  about 
him:  letters,   files,   phone,   clerks. 
Not  until  he  is  dexterous  with  these  is 
he  ready  for  the  real  tasks  of  business. 


CHAPTER  IV 
Putting  the  System  into  Practice 

IT'S  a  poor  manager  who  gets  in  a  fast  motor  and 
hitches  it  to  slow  machines;  you  must  get  the  other 
folks  in  the  office  in  accord  with  your  fast  system  before 
you  can  get  the  best  results  from  it.  Have  them  thor- 
oughly understand  that  all  letters  and  work  coming  to 
your  desk  must  be  placed  in  one  place  and  nowhere  else 
— on  the  right  hand  edge.  No  matter  what  it  is — mail, 
letters,  notes  from  other  desks,  instructions  from  a  su- 
perior, every  paper  that  can  be  called  "work"  wanta 
to  go  in  one  pile,  and  on  the  right  hand  edge  of  your 
desk.  This  is  to  enable  you  to  observe  the  first  law  of 
system — to  keep  the  surface  of  your  desk  clean  and 
orderly,  and  to  have  just  one  place  and  no  other  for  new, 
unfinished  work.  This  gives  a  complete  understanding 
all  around,  and  no  messages  can  be  overlooked. 

Here  we  are  at  your  desk  this  morning,  and  there  is 
a  pile  of  unfinished  work  on  the  right  hand  edge.  Before 
you  lay  a  hand  on  this  new  matter,  however,  consult 
your  infallible  advisor,  the  tickler,  and  see  if  he  has  not 
something  slated  for  today  that  should  take  precedence 
over  all  new  work.  Bj'  this  precaution,  you  are  often 
able  to  set  into  motion  at  8:30  or  9  o'clock,  some  task 

«7 


28  BASIS  OF  PERSONAL  SYSTEM 

that  might  be  seriously  hampered  or  delayed  if  held  over 
an  hour  or  so  later. 

Striking   the  Speed  Limit   on  the  New  "Unfinished 
Work  " 

And  now  that  we  are  fully  ready  to  tackle  the  new 
unfinished  work  waiting  on  the  right  hand  edge  of  the 
desk,  see  how  speedily  we  can  go  through  the  pile.  No 
old  papers  mixed  in  with  the  new  ones,  for  there  are  no 
old  papers  in  sight.  If  you  did  have  some  work  under 
way  on  the  surface  of  your  desk  before  you  started  work 
on  new  matter,  you  gathered  it  all  up  and  put  it  aside 
temporarily  in  the  Day's  Work  portfolio.  For  that 
is  one  of  the  rigid  rules  of  our  new  system — never  to 
have  any  tag  ends  or  loose  papers  scattered  about  the 
desk  top  excepting  those  to  which  we  are  giving  im- 
mediate attention. 

We  go  through  our  pile  methodically  and  steadily, 
taking  each  paper  or  letter  in  the  order  in  which  it  lies. 
We  don't  pull  out  the  pink  colored  letters  because  the 
hue  appeals  to  the  eye;  we  don't  extract  the  agreeable 
missives  beginning:  "enclosed  find  check"  because  it  is 
easier  to  handle  the  pleasant  things  first, — this  would  be 
upsetting  the  regular  order  of  things,  and  if  we  are 
going  to  be  systematic  at  all,  we  are  resolved  to  be  sys- 
tematic in  the  little  things  as  well  as  the  big  ones.  We 
just  plod  right  through  the  pile,  taking  things  as  they 
come.  Those  letters  that  need  immediate  answer — and 
need  it  today— go  into  the  Day's  Work  portfolio  to 
our  left,  under  the  compartment  "Ready  to  Dictate." 
Matters  needing  attention  but  not  immediate  attention, 
go  into  the  regular  Unfinished  Work  portfolio,  which 
is  always  in  one  perpetual  place;,  as  unchanging  as  the 


THE  SYSTEM  IN  PRACTICE  29 

Eock  of  Gibraltar — the  upper  right  hand  desk  drawer. 
And  as  we  file  away  such  matters  in  the  Unfinished 
Work  portfolio,  we  make  memoranda  of  them  in  the 
tickler,  with  the  date  we  want  them  brought  to  our  at- 
tention again.  Matters  to  be  taken  up  with  "A",  "B", 
and  so  on— and  today — we  file  in  the  Day's  Work  port- 
folio to  our  left  in  the  compartments  reserved  for  these 
men. 

System  Eliminates  a  Clerk  and  Finds  a  Private  Secre- 
tary That  Prods  Us  On. 

Papers  to  be  sent  through  to  other  desks  or  to  the  file 
go  in  the  proper  divisions  of  the  messenger  rack.  And 
so  our  desk  has  been  magically  changed  from  a  mere 
senseless  storehouse  of  tommy-rot  matter,  to  an  actual, 
working,  thinking  private  secretary  that  plans  and  lays 
out  all  our  work  for  us,  pushes  us,  prods  us,  spurs  us 
until  we  do  it,  and  then  files  it  away  again,  all  with  the 
precision  and  certainty  of  a  well  oiled  machine. 

The  secret  is  in  one  word:  We  have  applied  to  our 
desk  the  one  great  basic  principle  of  system,  the  self- 
same one  that  the  bookkeeper  applies  to  his  books  and 
the  stockkeeper  to  his  stock— classification.  And  simple 
classification,  infinitely  simple,— so  simple  indeed  that 
we  have  now  but  three  classes  of  papers,  located  in  but 
three  convenient  portfolios,  where  before  our  material 
was  distributed  through  a  dozen  and  one  different  com- 
partments, and  verily,  was  of  as  many  sorts  and  kinds 
as  the  hues  of  Joseph's  coat. 

And  to  top  it  all,  we  have  an  Index  to  our  classifica- 
tion— an  index  to  every  paper  and  task  and  duty  we 
have  on  hand.  Our  faithful  tickler  tells  us  at  all  times 
exactly  what  we  have  in  our  desk  to  do,  and  where  the 


30  BASIS  OF  PERSONAL  SYSTEM 

papers  and  letters  pertaining  to  it  can  be  immediately 
located.  It  is  a  watch-dog  against  negligence — and 
more  than  that,  it  is  an  alarm  clock  against  f orgetfulnesa 
and  sloth.  It  wakes  us  up  when  we  dawdle,  and  calls 
us  to  action  when  we  forget,  at  precisely  the  right  mo- 
ment when  we  should  give  a  certain  task  our  attention. 

In  the  morning  our  desk  contains  its  orderly  pile  of 
work;  in  the  evening  it  is  clear  and  clean,  and  yet  we 
are  hardly  conscious  of  having  made  any  special  effort 
to  make  it  so.  "We  have  pushed  the  button  and  system 
has  done  the  rest. 

System,  the  force  that  makes  molehills  of  business 
mountains;  grasps,  sifts,  dissects  overwhelming  masses 
of  detail  and  reduces  them  to  problems  of  A  B  C  sim- 
plicity ! 

Strive  for  Patience 

THERE  is  a  microbe  called  Unrest. 
It  breeds  in  many  busy  brains. 
It  blurs  many  a  clear  vision.  It  un- 
balances many  sound  judgments.  It 
sours  a  healthy  ambition.  It  ferments 
into  a  passion  for  quick  riches.  It 
urges  us  on  to  undertake  things  over- 
night, that  need  years  of  mature  effort 
to  accomplish.  It  makes  us  unfit  to  do 
our  daily  work. 

Acquire  patience  —  a  willingness  to 
wait!  Seek  content  —  content  that 
smothers  unrest  and  enables  us  to  do 
our  present  task  with  a  true  eye,  a  clear 
mind,  a  keen  judgment ! 


CHAPTER  V 
The  Executive's  Desk  Partner 

A  NEGLECTED  convenience  may  become  an  active 
**•  burden — a  source  of  genuine  harm.  Like  an  unused 
machine,  it  gathers  rust  and  dust,  and  soon  passes  them 
on  to  the  other  machines  in  the  workshop. 

When  man  created  the  first  desk,  he  put  into  it  • 
deep,  spacious,  roomy  compartment,  intended  as  the 
crowning  stroke  of  a  signal  accomplishment.  "Here," 
he  said  to  himself,  "is  a  space  big  enough  for  a  big, 
healthy  system  to  turn  around  in  and  have  plenty  of 
breathing  and  working  space.  Office  men  cannot  say 
that  I  have  not  given  them  at  least  one  unshallow  re- 
ceptacle— this  should  be  the  most  useful  and  convenient 
repository  in  the  office  for  the  desk  man's  bulky  records 
and  working  material." 

Yet  "from  time  immemorial"  this  compartment  in 
the  desk  has  been  totally  misused  and  unappreciated. 
Instead  of  taking  advantage  of  its  generous  breadth  and 
depth  as  an  appropriate  housing  place  for  a  good-sized 
system,  its  ample  proportions  have  been  shamelessly  used 
as  a  convenient  annex  to  the  waste  basket,  or  a  sort  of 
second  scrap  heap,  rather  easier  of  access  than  the 
one  in  the  back  yard. 


32  BASIS  OF  PERSONAL  SYSTEM 

When  the  office  man  has  had  anything  dead  and  ob- 
Bolete  to  bury  or  obliterate,  down  it  has  gone  into  his 
deep  desk  drawer.  When  he  has  left  the  office  at  night 
in  a  hurry,  and  hastily  gathered  up  the  litter  on  his  desk, 
down  it  has  gone  into  his  deep  desk  drawer.  Whenever 
he  has  had  any  conceivable  sort  of  papers  or  literature 
of  uncertain  classification,  the  big,  yawning  chasm  to  his 
right  has  looked  up  invitingly  and  encouragingly,  and 
down  have  gone  the  masses  of  nondescript  material! 

Booklets,  catalogs,  circulars,  manuscripts,  spring 
poems  and  what  not — relics  of  the  business  past — have 
all  found  a  peaceful  cemetery  in  the  unprotesting,  all- 
embracing,  deep  desk  drawer. 

In  all  the  category  of  earthly  subjects  there  is  no  bet- 
ter example  of  a  really  good  thing  gone  wrong  than  the 
much-misused  and  much-abused  deep  desk  drawer! 

Restoring  the  Deep  Desk  Drawer  to  its  Birthright,  and 
Exploiting  its  Virtues 

The  solution  offered  in  this  chapter  for  bringing  the 
deep  drawer  into  its  own,  and  restoring  to  it  its  birth- 
right as  the  most  convenient  and  useful  portion  of  the 
desk,  is  the  inevitable  solution — so  inevitable  that  like 
all  great  inventions,  it  causes  us  to  wonder  why  we  did 
not  think  of  it  before. 

The  deep  drawer  is  about  the  size  of  an  average  ver- 
tical file  drawer,  the  greatest  time-saver  and  filing  con- 
venience the  office  has  ever  known.  What  reason  is 
there  then,  that  the  deep  drawer  should  not  be  utilized 
as  a  vertical  filing  drawer — that  "the  greatest  time- 
saver"  should  not  be  taken  from  its  place  in  an  oak 
cabinet,  'way  at  the  other  end  of  the  office,  and  concen- 
trated into  our  own  business  work  bench— right  within 


THE  EXECUTIVE'S  PARTNER  33 

arm's  reach.  Think  of  the  saving  of  steps  to  and  from 
the  old  vertical  file  this  would  effect;  think  of  the  con- 
venience and  satisfaction  of  having  our  important  cor- 
respondence in  a  file  of  our  own,  under  our  own  lock  and 
key  ;  the  economy  and  ease  of  being  able  to  put  down  our 
right  arm,  pull  out  a  drawer,  and  in  three  motions  ex- 
tract any  desired  paper  or  letter  we  may  wish  to  refer 
to,  all  without  leaving  our  office  chair. 


Securing  an   Outfit  for  the  Deep  Drawer  FUe 
Arranging  It  to  Suit  Tour  Needs 

The  '  '  Deep  Drawer  File  '  '  outfit  (  Form  IV)  consists  of  a 
number  of  regulation  size  folders,  from  thirty  to  sixty, 
or  aa  many  as  your  drawer  will  accommodate.  These 
folders  are  each  attached  to  a  rod  or  stick  and  are  sus- 
pended upright  in  the  drawer  by  two  notched  panels, 
one  on  each  side  of  the  drawer.  Each  Bolder  is  fitted 
with  a  moveable  label  or  index,  and  with  Exty  of  these 
in  your  drawer  you  have  the  basis  of  one  of  the  most 
exhaustless  and  versatile  of  office  systems. 

This  file  can  do  any  specific  thing,  provide  any  con- 
venience, serve  any  filing  purpose  of  the  regular  vertical 
filing  drawer.  As  a  follow-up,  thirty-one  of  its  folders 
can  be  numbered  by  the  days  of  the  month,  and  twelve 
more  by  the  months  of  the  year,  and  you  have  in  your 
own  desk  drawer  a  complete  follow-up  system  in  which 
you  can  file  ahead  sales  correspondence,  credit  corres- 
pondence, matters  or  plans  to  take  up  at  a  future  date, 
and  all  the  regulation  follow-up  material,  with  the  cer- 
tainty that  your  file  will  bring  each  to  your  attention  on 
the  proper  date. 

Or  as  a  special  alphabetical  file  for  classifying  and 
keeping  accessible,  personal  or  special  kinds  of  corre* 


84  BASIS  OP  PERSONAL  SYSTEM 


Form  IV:     An  example  of  how  three  motions  of  the  hands  brinf  the  correspondence 
to  the  top  of  the  desk 


THE  EXECUTIVE'S  PARTNER  35 

pondencfj  of  such  a  nature  that  you  do  not  want  to  put 
it  into  the  regular  file,  it  is  exactly  as  useful.  You  can 
label  with  pen  and  ink  twenty-six  of  the  folders  with  the 
alphabet  letters,  and  there  you  have  your  complete  ver- 
tical file,  its  entire  contents  within  a  few  seconds'  reach. 
Purchasing  agents  find  it  a  gold  mine  of  convenience 
for  classifying  and  filing  ahead  the  promises  of  "smooth- 
tongued" salesmen.  When  the  wily  business-getter  hands 
in  his  prices,  with  a  delivery  specification  of  ten  days, 
the  buyer  files  this  promise  eight  days  ahead  along  with 
a  copy  of  the  order.  Then  it  comes  to  his  attention  two 
days  ahead  of  time,  and  he  has  an  opportunity  to  "punch 
up"  his  salesman  in  time  to  make  sure  of  a  delivery  two 
days  later. 

Using  the  Deep  Drawer  File  for  a  Follow-up — How  a 
Credit  Man  Can  Use  It 

The  credit  man  of  a  large  installment  house  uses  it 
almost  entirely  to  follow  up  large  collections  that  he 
prefers  to  handle  himself.  All  installment  accounts  due 
each  month  on  the  21st  are  filed  in  folder  "21."  On 
the  morning  of  the  21st  he  takes  out  the  contents  of 
this  folder  and  pushes  all  of  his  debtors  for  payment 
Those  accounts  that  are  paid  before  nightfall  are  put 
back  into  folder  twenty-one  for  attention  when  the  next 
payment  comes  due  on  the  21st  of  next  month.  Those 
that  are  not  paid  are  "dunned"  and  then  filed  ahead 
five  days  in  folder  26.  If  they  are  not  paid  that  day 
they  are  "dunned"  again  and  filed  ahead  another  five 
days,  and  so  it  goes  until  the  delinquent  customer  cashes 
up  his  payment,  when  he  is  again  restored  to  the  good 
graces  of  folder  21  for  attention  on  the  21st  of  next 
month,  when  his  next  payment  becomes  due. 


36  BASIS  OF  PERSONAL  SYSTEM 

Who  can  conceive  of  a  more  supremely  simple  system, 
yet  besides  its  simplicity  it  provides  unlimited  con- 
venience for  the  credit  man  in  keeping  all  his  big  ac- 
counts almost  under  his  very  nose. 

"But,"  you  ask,  "how  does  the  credit  man  know  in 
what  folder,  or  under  what  date  he  can  find  a  given  ac- 
count, should  he  care  to  locate  it?"  The  easiest  thing 
in  the  world — for  he  supplements  his  deep  drawer  file 
with  our  old  friend  the  tickler.  In  the  back  of  the 
tickler  is  a  complete  alphabetical  index,  and  when  Mr. 
Credit  Man  files  Brown's  account  in  compartment 
21,  it  is  quite  "the  easiest  thing  in  the  world"  to 
make  a  note  of  it  on  Brown's  card  in  the  tickler.  And 
so  the  contents  of  the  vertical  file  is  always  indexed,  and 
always  findable  without  the  help  of  an  uncertain  and 
often  hard-to-locate  filing  clerk. 

Make  the  Deep  Drawer  File  a  Private  Secretary — Forget 
Petty  Details 

Executives  and  sales  managers  have  used  the  same  sys- 
tem as  an  "automatic  private  secretary"  for  following 
up  the  instructions  they  give  to  branch  offices,  men  on 
the  road,  department  heads  and  lieutenants.  When  the 
general  manager  writes  the  advertising  man,  "I  want 
that  booklet  written  by  Thursday,"  who  is  there  to  re- 
mind him  of  it,  if  the  Ad.  man  doesn't  make  good?  His 
unfailing  deep  drawer  file.  He  places  a  carbon  of 
his  instructions  to  the  Ad.  man  in  folder  25,  which 
happens  to  be  Thursday,  and  at  the  dawn  of  Thursday 
he  takes  out  his  folder  25,  goes  over  the  things  due  to- 
day, and  if  the  Ad.  man  hasn't  made  good — look  out! 

In  small  concerns,  or  even  in  larger  ones  where  the 
correspondence  is  carried  on  with  a  limited  number  of 


THE  EXECUTIVE'S  PARTNER  37 

correspondents,  the  deep  drawer  file  may  prove 
entirely  adequate  for  keeping  the  entire  active  corres- 
pondence of  the  desk  man  "at  his  fingers'  ends,"  and 
thus  may  forever  eliminate  round  trips  to  the  files. 
The  common  method  for  using  the  deep  drawer  file  in 
such  cases  is  to  label  the  different  folders  with  the  names 
of  the  different  correspondents — "Brown,  Smith,  Jones," 
etc.  If  you  have  a  good  deal  of  correspondence  with 
Johnson,  give  him  a  special  folder  with  his  name  writ- 
ten on  the  label,  and  file  in  it  all  letters,  "to  and  from" 
him  in  the  exact  order  in  which  they  were  written  or 
received,  the  last  letter  always  on  top.  Carbon  copies 
of  all  letters  you  write  to  Johnson  should  be  attached  to 
the  letters  Johnson  writes  you,  to  which  yours  are  re- 
plies. Thus,  in  one  folder  you  have  the  whole  history  of 
your  transactions  with  this  customer,  and  in  strict 
chronological  order. 

Working  the  Follow-up  Without  Burying  Correspon- 
dence— Systematizing  the  File 

A  follow-up  can  be  operated  in  connection  with  this 
simple  system  by  having  a  second  set  of  folders  back 
of  the  alphabetical  set  labeled  by  the  thirty-one  days  and 
twelve  months.  When  you  wish  to  follow  up  Johnson 
for  any  purpose,  take  his  correspondence,  or  the  par- 
ticular letter  you  wish  to  follow  up  out  of  his  regular 
folder  and  file  it  in  one  of  the  numbered  folders  under 
the  particular  date  you  wish  to  send  out  your  follow-up. 
At  the  same  time,  make  a  note  of  just  what  paper  or 
papers  you  are  filing  ahead  and  put  the  memo  in  John- 
son's folder  stating  under  what  date  papers  are  filed. 

There  is  just  one  danger  in  using  the  deep  drawer 
file,  and  the  desk  man  should  be  on  the  alert  to  guard 


38       ASIS  OF  PERSONAL  SYSTEM 

against  that.  It  is  the  danger  of  using  this  file 
to  excess,  of  permitting  it  to  interfere  with  the  regular 
correspondence  system  and  the  desk  system  described 
in  the  previous  chapter. 

No  correspondence,  for  instance,  should  be  filed  away 
in  your  desk,  that  is  liable  to  be  needed  by  someone  else 
in  the  office.  The  prime  law  of  system,  remember,  is 
"one  place  for  one  thing,"  and  in  large  businesses  it  is 
sometimes  better  to  have  all  correspondence  in  but  one 
system  of  files  than  scattered  through  various  desks. 

The  ideal  case  for  the  use  of  the  personal  desk  file  is 
that  of  a  manager  whose  department  is  clearly  separated 
from  all  the  other  branches  of  the  concern.  The  ad- 
vertising department  is  a  fair  illustration  of  this  situa- 
tion. In  such  an  instance,  the  general  files  would  only 
be  encumbered  by  the  addition  of  these  letters  and 
records.  Not  once  a  month  will  any  person  except  the 
desk  man  and  his  secretary  care  to  examine  them. 
Here,  therefore,  is  a  well-defined  distinction  on  which  to 
base  the  division.  Certain  documents  are  needed  here, 
daily,  hourly;  elsewhere  they  are  practically  dead  wood. 
The  secretary  must  in  each  case  understand  the  ar- 
rangement, limits  and  uses  of  his  superior's  file;  the 
different  departments  must  understand  where  to  look 
for  such  papers  in  any  emergency.  Beyond  this  the 
matter  may  be  strictly  personal.  Thus  the  absence  of 
the  desk  man,  or  the  failure  to  find  a  departmental  let- 
ter in  the  general  files  will  not  turn  the  whole  office  up- 
side down  on  some  unlucky  hunt.  The  economy  of  the 
system  will  be  had,  and  the  confusion  of  false  system 
avoided. 

The  extent  to  which  the  deep  drawer  file  can  be 
utilized  is  a  matter  that  the  desk  man  can  best  determine 


THE  EXECUTIVE'S  PABTNER  88 

for  himself.  Uses  will  suggest  themselves  as  needs  arise. 
The  system  which  waits  upon  the  call  of  business  but 
does  not  keep  business  waiting,  is  nearly  ideal.  It  avoids 
the  dangers  just  described.  It  fits  the  case.  It  does  not 
incumber  the  future  with  a  waiting  list  of  misfit  schemes 
which  will  eventually  have  to  be  cleared  away  at  a 
"sacrifice." 

The  writer  has  used  the  deep  drawer  file  for  nearly 
two  years  for  classifying  "plans  for  the  future,"  keep- 
ing "ammunition  for  future  campaigns,"  gathering 
"ideas  and  data  of  possible  future  value,"  "clippings," 
and  so  on.  An  editorial  worker  has  his  desk  arranged  for 
filing  the  various  classes  of  type  proofs,  page  proofs, 
color  proofs,  revises  and  the  like  which  flood  in  upon  him 
in  bewildering  confusion  week  by  week.  He  could  aot 
trust  to  chance  and  memory  for  a  single  day.  At  best 
there  must  be  frequent  "house  cleaning,"  but  his  method 
makes  it  easy  to  discard  matter  which  has  gone  to  the 
press,  and  to  classify  whatever  revises  he  cares  to  pre- 
serve. 

The  advertiser,  merchant  and  shop  foreman  have  like 
systems  adapted  to  the  work  they  handle.  Here  details 
rest  until  they  have  served  their  uses  and  are  ready  for 
the  waste  basket.  From  them  are  assembled  the  results 
which  are  passed  on  to  other  departments. 

Inaugurating  Method  in  the  Desk  with  Fireworks  and 
Ittumination 

There  is  a  story  of  a  corporation  president  who  asked 
a  clerk  for  a  certain  paper  and  stood  by  while  the  clerk 
rummaged  in  the  musty  depths  of  his  desk.  The  paper 
refused  to  appear.  The  clerk  grew  red.  The  president 
did  some  rapid  thinking. 


40  BASIS  OF  PERSONAL  SYSTEM 

Going  from  desk  to  desk,  he  demanded,  "Do  you  know 
what  is  in  that  drawer?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"What?" 

' '  Why — why — . ' '    The  desk  man  hesitated. 

"Dump  it  out  in  the  alley  and  burn  it." 

The  inauguration  of  system  in  that  office  was  marked 
by  a  costly  illumination  on  the  vacant  lot  back  of  the 
building.  Valuable  records  were  burned;  the  expense 
ran  into  five  figures.  But  it  paid  in  the  end. 

Do  you  know  what  is  in  your  desk  ?  When  a  phone  call 
comes  for  some  forgotten  paper,  do  you  conscientiously 
say,  "Hold  the  wire,"  and  make  a  one-hand  "stab" 
that  means  business.  Or  do  you  beat  about.f  or  delay  and 
finally  agree  to  "call  you  up;"  then  take  off  your  coat, 
get  down  on  one  knee,  and  with  wrinkled  brow,  set  about 
to  hunt? 


Watch  the  Main  Chance 

A  HUNDRED  hindering  trifles  hang 
to  the  coat-tails  of  every  great 
undertaking. 

A  hundred  thwarting  details  threaten 
the  fixity  of  every  great  purpose. 

A  hundred  interloping  interests  assail 
the  stability  of  every  great  determination. 

A  hundred  wilting  doubts  and  dis- 
couragements menace  every  great  en- 
thusiasm. 

Determine;  then  spurn  the  irrelevant 
— keep  your  eyes  on  me  main  chance. 


Part  II 

TAKING  CARE  OF  DETAILS 

Forget  It 

YOUR    brain    has    a    capacity   limit. 
Don't  overload  it.    Don't  fill  it  with 
details.    Don't  burden  it  with  worry. 

Get  a  system. 

Make  your  system  your  storehouse.  File 
therein  the  little  cares  that  wear  and  tear 
—  the  important  details  that  annoy. 

Make  your  system  the  guardian  of  the 
necessary,  the  grave  of  the  needless. 
Leave  your  work  at  night,  free  and  un- 
shackled. Your  system  will  bring  your 
duties  before  you  the  next  morning — the 
next  week — the  next  month. 

Train  your  system  to  remember  all  that 
it  should  not  forget  —  to  forget  all  that 
it  should  not  remember. 

Carry  with  you  the  success  of  today. 
File  with  your  system  the  duty  of  to- 
morrow. Profit  from  your  failure  of  yes- 
terday and  then — Forget  It. 


CHAPTER  VI 
First  Aids  to  the  Memory 

CARRY  the  big  things  in  your  head — the  details  in 
your  pocket  is  an  axiom  from  the  science  of  busi- 
ness. And  the  student  of  big  business  knows  that  a  mind 
burdened  with  details  is  not  efficient.  The  business  man 
whose  attention  is  concentrated  on  the  big  things  ac- 
quires a  perspective  which  overlooks  routine  and  per- 
sonal detail.  While  determining  the  big  change  in  sell- 
ing policy,  he  forgets  a  lunch  engagement  with  a  friendly 
prospect;  intent  on  a  hundred  thousand  dollar  building 
expansion,  he  neglects  to  pay  his  life  insurance.  This, 
however,  is  not  a  weakness  on  the  part  of  the  executive. 
Details  are  lost  in  focusing  his  mind  on  the  large  affairs. 
He  needs  a  mechanical  help. 

This  mechanical  help  may  consist  of  a  pocket  mem- 
orandum, a  desk  file,  a  calendar  pad,  the  collapsible 
pocketbook,  or  a  variety  of  contrivances,  but  the  user 
of  each  should  adopt  a  comprehensive  plan  and  follow  it. 

The  Advantages  of  Keeping  Daily  Memoranda  Loosely — 
Cutting  Away  the  Details 

Loose  leaf  books  of  all  kinds  have  so  largely  displaced 
the  permanently  bound  style  in  office  use  that  loose  leaf 


FIRST  AIDS  TO  MEMORY  43 

memorandum  books  have  come  in  the  natural  order  of 
things.  The  difficulty  with  the  ordinary  bound  note 
book  is  that  it  is  always  overloaded  with  a  mass  of  ma- 
terial no  longer  needed.  In  the  loose  leaf  binder  each 
leaf  as  it  serves  its  purpose,  from  day  to  day,  may  be 
removed  and  destroyed. 

A  variety  of  specific  uses  may  be  made  of  the  loose 
leaf  memorandum  to  suit  personal  needs.  One  method 
is  to  date  a  dozen  or  more  leaves  ahead,  and  make  notes 
of  things  to  be  done  on  those  dates.  Each  morning  the 
old  sheets  are  taken  out  and  the  current  date  is  always 
kept  as  the  first  page  in  the  book.  If  some  little  thing 
remains  undone  it  may  be  noted  down  on  the  next  page 
or  for  some  future  day.  This  keeps  the  matter  in  the 
book  always  fresh.  General  notes  not  properly  coming 
on  the  dated  sheets  may  be  made  on  the  leaves  in  the 
back  and  torn  out  when  they  have  served  their  purpose. 

Loose  leaves  can  now  be  obtained  in  a  wide  variety  of 
ruled  and  printed  forms.  Miniature  day  books,  cash 
books,  journals,  ledgers — all  these  may  be  made  from  the 
single  pocket  binder.  Thus  temporary  entries  of  per- 
sonal or  business  transactions  may  be  made  wherever 
the  user  chances  to  be  and  a  concise  and  accurate  record 
is  kept  until  time  of  final  entry  in  the  permanent  ac- 
count books. 

For  the  keeping  of  personal  expense  accounts  th« 
pocket  memorandum  may  in  some  cases  be  found  entirely 
adequate  in  itself,  the  different  forms  affording  oppor- 
tunity for  proper  posting  and  the  striking  of  a  period- 
ical balance.  Leaves  containing  closed  accounts  may  be 
removed  and  filed  for  reference. 

One  pocket  memorandum  scheme  which  goes  even  far- 
ther than  the  ordinary  loose  leaf  book  is  a  binder  bav- 


44  TAKING  CARE  OF  DETAILS 

ing  on  the  inside  of  the  cover  a  metal  rim  for  holding 
half  a  dozen  or  more  cards  tabbed  and  indexed  at  the 
upper  edge.  These  cards  inside  one  cover  are  indexed 
with  the  days  of  the  week  and  month,  and  inside  the 
other  with  letters  of  the  alphabet.  A  supply  of  cards, 
tabbed  for  all  the  days  of  the  year,  can  be  obtained  and 
placed  in  a  drawer  in  the  office  file.  Memorandum  notes 
for  future  dates  may  then  be  made  on  any  of  the  carda 
as  far  as  a  year  ahead. 

Each  Monday  morning  the  cards  for  the  week  just 
starting  are  taken  from  the  file  and  placed  in  the  pocket 
binders.  Each  morning  the  card  of  the  previous  day  is 
removed  from  its  top  position  in  the  binder  and  slipped 
behind  the  others.  This  memorandum  scheme  is  in  re- 
ality a  combination  office  and  pocket  card  system,  and 
has  a  distinct  advantage  in  that  reminder  notes  may 
be  made  for  almost  any  time  in  the  future. 

Every  office  and  road  man  has  constant  need  of  a 
readily  accessible  list  of  addresses  and  phone  numbers 
of  business  men  and  personal  friends.  For  this  purpose 
a  note  book  with  alphabetically  tabbed  sections  is  al- 
ways the  most  satisfactory.  Ordinarily  it  is  found  de- 
sirable to  keep  a  small  pocket  memorandum  exclusively 
for  addresses  and  in  such  cases  a  permanently  bound 
book  is  quite  as  suitable  as  a  loose  leaf.  It  is  possible, 
however,  to  procure  a  few  loose  leaves  tabbed  with  let- 
ters and  insert  them  in  a  back  or  middle  section  in  a 
loose  leaf  binder. 

Points  to  be  Considered  in  Choosing  Convenient  Mem- 
oranda—Eliminating Bulky  Books 

The  only  objection  to  this  method  is  that  the  large 
number  of  addresses  usually  carried  makes  a  loose  leaf 


FIRST  AIDS  TO  MEMORY 


45 


book  with  addresses  and  its  other  contents  too  bulky  for 
convenient  use. 

Probably  for  the  majority  of  business  men  leaves  for 
the  notes  of  each  day's  transactions  would  be  found  suf- 
ficient. These  filed  in  the  memorandum  book  for  ten 
or  fifteen  days  ahead  would  no  doubt  be  adequate  to 


Form  V:    Two  sheets  from  loose  leaf  pocket  memo.    Personal  accounts  are  kept 
to  be  posted  at  the  end  of  the  da; 


46  TAKING  CARE  OF  DETAILS 

relieve  the  average  person  of  the  vexing  details  which 
otherwise  would  tax  his  memory  needlessly.  In  arrange* 
ment  these  leaves  could  be  suited  to  the  business  or  per- 
sonal needs  of  the  individual. 

For  the  private  convenience  of  the  executive  a  sheet 
arranged  somewhat  after  the  pattern  of  the  accom- 
panying illustration  (Form  V),  might  be  found  con- 
venient. A  number  of  sheets  could  be  printed  at  a 
time  and  could  be  used  as  needed.  A  different  arrange- 
ment could  be  adopted  as  found  expedient  and  the  form 
varied  indefinitely. 

No  strict  rules  could  be  either  given  or  followed  for 
the  use  of  pocket  memoranda.  Each  man  for  himself 
chooses  the  form  best  suited  to  his  needs. 

Calendar  Pads,  Desk  Memos  and  the  "Brain  Box" — 
How  they  Aid  the  Busy  Man 

Every  office  man  should  have  some  kind  of  a  dated 
desk  reminder  which,  with  the  current  date  always  up- 
permost, will  keep  constantly  before  him  a  list  of  things 
still  undone. 

The  simplest  form  of  desk  reminder  is  the  calendar 
pad  with  a  sheet  for  each  day  of  the  year.  The  day  of 
the  month  is  printed  in  large  figures  and  in  smaller  type 
appears  the  day  of  the  week,  the  number  of  days  of  the 
year  passed,  and  number  yet  to  come.  These  conven- 
iences for  correspondence  and  interest  figuring  occupy 
about  a  third  of  each  sheet,  leaving  the  remainder  blank 
for  notes.  By  simply  lifting  the  leaves,  entries  may  be 
Biade  ahead  for  any  date  during  the  year. 

Each  evening  upon  leaving  the  office  the  user  should 
tear  off  the  sheet  for  that  day,  transfer  to  the  morrow's 
list  any  items  postponed  and  write  down  all  other  fore- 


FIRST  AIDS  TO  MEMORY  47 

seen  duties.  Thus  upon  reaching  his  desk  next  morning 
he  finds  staring  him  in  the  face,  a  clearly  defined  list 
of  things  to  do. 

A  slight  variation  of  this  form  of  memo  pad  which 
has  an  additional  advantage  is  that  which  holds  the 
leaves  together  by  rings  instead  of  a  glued  or  perforated 
edge.  On  this  pad  the  leaves,  instead  of  being  torn  off 
and  destroyed  each  day,  are  simply  turned  back,  leav- 
ing the  blank  reverse  side  as  additional  space  for  mak- 
ing notes  over  the  next  day's  date. 

The  Use  of  the  Office  Man's  "Brain  Box"— The  Card 
Tickler 

A  radical  departure  from  the  desk  pad  form  of  re- 
minder is  the  "brain  box"  or  card  tickler  (Form  VI). 
It  is  an  adaptation  of  the  card  index  idea  and  over- 
comes the  most  serious  objection  to  the  desk  pad — the 
necessity  of  rewriting  items  postponed  from  time  to  time. 
The  equipment  consists  of  a  box  fitted  with  tabbed  par- 
tition cards  numbered  from  one  to  thirty-one  and  a  set 
of  twelve  additional  cards  for  the  months  of  the  year. 


Form  VI:    Showing  the  guide  cards  for  the  thirty-one  days  of  the  month  and  the 

twelve  months  of  the  year,  by  means  of  which  every  task 

attracts  notice  at  the  proper  time 


48 

When  any  matter  arises  which  is  to  receive  attention 
at  some  future  time  a  slip  containing  a  record  of  it  is 
dropped  behind  the  card  of  proper  date.  Anything  can 
be  inserted — visiting  or  business  cards,  slips  of  paper — 
anything  that  will  call  up  the  thing  to  be  done.  Each 
morning,  by  taking  out  the  slips  in  the  compartment  of 
even  date,  the  user  has  brought  to  his  attention  all  par- 
ticulars of  his  day's  work  as  far  as  it  has  been  possible 
to  schedule  it  ahead.  Furthermore,  if  any  matter  is  not 
finished  on  the  day  it  comes  up,  the  original  slip  is  simply 
filed  ahead  to  the  next  day  without  the  necessity  of  any 
rewriting.  This  acts  as  an  effective  follow-up. 

Many  men  who  are  away  from  their  desks  more  or  less 
each  day  use  a  pocket  auxiliary  to  the  desk  tickler.  This 
saves  the  minutes  and  the  chances  of  forgetfulness  or 
copying  errors  involved  in  the  transfer  of  items  from 
the  note  book  to  the  cards. 

The  extent  to  which  the  office  man  must  rely  upon 
mechanical  means  of  calling  things  to  his  attention  de- 
pends upon  the  nature  of  his  work.  For  the  one-man 
business  a  simple  desk  pad  is  often  sufficient;  the  office 
executive  must  have  a  complete  desk  system.  But  what- 
ever the  need,  a  "brain  box"  of  some  description  proves 
a  mighty  assistant  in  clearing  away  the  day's  work  aa 
promptly  as  possible. 


Be  Ready 

(OPPORTUNITY  can't  be  clapped 
^s  into  jail  while  we  learn  to  handle 
it.  Be  ready.  Mastery  finds  a  short 
cut  to  opportunity. 


The  Tickler  as  a  Business  Getter 

THERE  is  one  subject  that  has  undying,  unceasing 
interest  to  every  living  person.  It  matters  not  how 
familiar  and  worn-out  it  may  be ;  it  matters  not  that  it 
is  as  close  to  us  perpetually  as  our  own  skin  and  bones; 
that  we  think  it,  talk  it,  get  up  with  it,  and  go  to  bed 
with  it  a  lifetime,  it  is  still  as  youthful,  as  refreshing 
and  fascinating  as  it  was  the  first  day  we  heard  of  it; 
and  so  it  will  continue  to  be  to  the  end  of  time — as  long 
as  men  are  men  of  clay  and  dust,  of  weaknesses  and 
vanities. 

And  that  subject  of  subjects  is  Ourselves. 

You,  to  you ;  me  to  me ;  the  other  fellow,  to  the  other 
fellow:  this  is,  to  each  of  us  respectively,  the  most 
fascinating  subject  in  the  world. 

It  matters  not  how  crusty,  frigid  or  unapproachable 
the  individual,  you  can  reach  him  and  win  him,  through 
the  open  sesame  of  his  self-interest.  "When  you  talk 
to  the  buyer,  talk  not  our  goods,  but  his  needs,"  talk 
"him  not  us,"  is  the  way  a  great  concern  puts  the 
secret  to  its  sales  force.  You  may  t  talk  to  a  goods- 
buyer  until  doomsday  about  your  own  product,  you 
may  talk  with  the  eloquence  of  Webster,  the  wit  of 


50  TAKING  CAEE  OF  DETAILS 

Twain,  the  diplomacy  of  Hay,  without  getting  even 
so  much  as  a  blink  of  encouragement.  But  once  you 
talk  to  him  about  himself,  talk  knowingly,  understand- 
ingly*  pointedly,  and— ah,  that's  different.  The  key 
to  his  attention  and  interest  are  immediately  yours 
to  use  as  you  will.  Once  his  interest  is  fully  yours — 
then  you  can  talk  your  goods  to  your  heart's  interest 

Knowing  the  Prospect,  His  Oddities,  His  Temperament 
— Getting  Close  to  the  Trade 

But  you  must  know  this  subject  of  "Himself"  il 
you  expect  to  argue  successfully.  Because  you  say 
"You"  to  the  buyer  does  not  always  mean  that  you 
are  really  "getting  next."  You  must  back  the  "You" 
with  an  understanding  of  it,  you  must  know  the 
buyer,  his  desires,  his  prejudices, his  temperament  and 
his  peculiarities,  before  you  can  successfully  talk  to 
him  about  himself. 

Most  salesmen  do  not  really  know  their  customers; 
they  cannot  get  close  to  them ;  "inside"  of  them;  "next" 
to  them.  They  nib  this  or  that  man  the  wrong  way, 
because  they  do  not  understand  his  individuality 
or  habits  of  thought. 

The  reason  for  this  is  that  they  have  no  definite 
method  of  securing,  classifying  and  preserving  "inside" 
data  about  their  clients.  The  mind  alone  cannot  do 
it.  The  salesman  meets  so  many  men  of  so  many 
different  temperaments,  that  even  if  he  were  keen  and 
observing  enough  to  read  the  inside  facts  about  each 
customer,  it  would  be  hard  for  him  to  carry  them  all 
in  his  head  to  use  in  preparing  his  plan  of  attack. 

Most  salesmen  blunder  into  the  presence  of  each  buyer 
ignorant  or  uncertain  of  just  what  manner  of  man  they 


THE  TICKLER  IN  BUSINESS  51 

are  going  to  meet,  or  if  they  have  met  him  before,  just 
what  sort  of  a  humor  he  will  be  in,  and  what  will  be 
the  character  of  their  reception. 

The  Aggravation  of  Losing  Sales  by  Lapses  of  Memory 
— How  to  Avoid  It 

"Confound  it,  I  might  have  known  that  Jones  would 
go  off  on  that  tantrum.  He's  just  the  same  sort  of  a  man 
as  Brown,  who  turned  me  down  the  same  way  last  month. 
I  ought  to  have  known  better." 

How  often  has  the  average  salesman  said  that  sort 
of  a  thing  to  himself,  after  leaving  the  office  of  a 
customer? 

He  ought  to  have  remembered,  but  he  didn't  remem- 
ber. Business  men,  to  whom  remembering  spells  success, 
have  long  ago  learned  that  the  human  memory  is  an 
extremely  deceitful  institution.  Nor  is  this  surprising. 

Every  minute  you  live  the  various  senses  are  taking 
a  hundred  different  impressions  to  the  brain.  The 
wonder  is,  not  that  ninety -nine  out  of  every  hundred 
of  these  impressions  last  no  longer  than  the  ripple  made 
by  a  stone  in  the  water,  but  even  that  one  out  of  a 
hundred  leaves  a  permanent  impression. 

There  are  a  very  few  men  whose  memories,  naturally 
strong,  have  been  trained  to  retain  a  great  mass  of 
facts  bearing  on  some  particular  subject.  But  no  mem- 
ory in  the  world  will  do  the  work  so  well,  unaided,  as 
will  that  of  the  average  and  ordinary  man,  if  it  is 
properly  backed  up  by  our  old  friend  "The  Tickler." 

To  use  the  tickler  as  an  aid  in  getting  business,  whether 
by  correspondence  or  personal  calls,  we  should  provide 
our  desk  with  an  additional  tickler  outfit,  so  that  we 
can  keep  our  original  outfit  free  to  use  in  the  manner 


Form  VII:    How  an  alphabetical  index  enables  the  salesman  to  list  accessible  fact 
about  the  personality  of  each  prospect 

indicated  in  the  previous  chapters.  Unless,  of  course, 
our  whole  work  consists  in  selling  goods  and  making 
calls,  so  that  we  have  no  desk  work  to  do  and  therefore 
need  no  desk  system.  In  such  an  event,  only  one  tickler 
will  be  needed,  to  be  used  as  will  be  described  in  this 
chapter. 

This  tickler  (Form  VII) ,  placed  in  the  upper  left  hand 
drawer,  next  to  the  original  tickler,  should  be  fitted 
up  with  the  regular  3x5  blank  cards,  one  set  of  alph- 
abetical indexes,  and  one  set  of  blank  indexes  to  be  in- 
dexed by  subjects,  or  by  customers'  names,  as  we  later 
on  find  that  our  system  will  require. 

How  the  Mechanical  Memory  Meets  Incredulity  with 
Sound  Proof 

In  calling  on  customers  you  have  found  that  a  great 
many  of  them  decline  to  buy,  because,  they  say,  they 


THE  TICKLER  IN  BUSINESS  53 

object  to  the  price.  On  the  first  index  card  (Form  VIII) 
in  your  filing  case,  you  write  the  word  "Price,"  and 
in  chat  compartment  of  the  case  you  file  away  everything 
you  hear  or  read  which,  applies  to  that  particular  ob- 
jection. Jones,  for  instance,  has  written  you  a  strong 
testimonial,  in  which  he  says  that  he  has  found  that 
the  use  of  your  specialty  has  stopped  the  leaks  in  his 
business  and  that,  consequently,  he  "can't  afford  to  be 
without  it."  You  file  Jones'  testimonial,  then,  so 
that  when  Brown  makes  the  same  objection,  you  can 
have  it  ready  to  show  him. 

If  you  are  a  wide-awake  salesman— and  they  are  the 
only  ones  who  can  use  a  tickler  outfit  of  any  kind — 
you  subscribe  for  a  number  of  business  publications. 
In  almost  every  issue  of  each  of  these  papers  you  will 
find  one  or  more  arguments  which  may  be  successfully 
used  in  meeting  the  objection  of  the  man  who  says 
he  "can't  afford  to  buy." 


Form  VIII:    The  tickler  as  a  business  Better,  showing  how  the  salesman  prepare* 
the  stock  objections  of  his  prospects 


54  TAKING  CAKE  OF  DETAILS 

Every  such  argument  you  find,  you  clip  out,  paste 
on  a  card  and  file  away,  under  the  proper  index,  in 
your  tickler  business  getter.  Before  you  know  it,  you 
have,  with  no  tax  at  all  on  your  overworked  memory, 
a  collection  of  all  the  answers  which  the  best  salesmen 
in  the  world  use  in  meeting  that  particular  objection. 

Another  class  of  customers  refuse  to  buy  your  goods 
because  they  say  that  they  can  buy  second-hand  goods 
to  better  advantage.  You  label  another  index  card, 
"Second-hand,"  and  collect  arguments  which  apply 
to  that  objection  in  the  same  way  and  at  the  same  time. 

Anticipating  Bridges  Makes  Them  Easier  to  (-ross — 
Making  Friends  of  Your  Customers 

There  are  still  other  possible  customers  who  prefer 
your  competitors'  goods  or  who  "don't  see  the  need" 
of  your  goods;  who  declare  that  "times  are  too  hard" 
at  present;  who  dislike  to  buy  of  a  house  in  the  "trust." 
You  make  a  separate  index  card  for  each  one,  and 
store  away  the  best  arguments  to  meet  that  objection. 

And  your  silent  partner,  the  tickler,  will  do  much 
more  than  that.  There  are  two  or  three  buyers  in  each 
town  you  visit  whom  you  have  not  been  able  to  interest 
at  all,  though  you  are  sure  that  once  you  get  their 
ears  and  their  attention,  you  could  sell  them  a  big  bill. 

Make  out  an  index  card  or  folder  in  your  filing  case 
for  each  of  these  buyers.  The  first  one,  Smith,  let  us 
say,  is  much  interested  in  duck  hunting.  You  read  in 
your  Sunday  paper  a  full-page  article  on  duck  hunting, 
signed  by  President  Roosevelt,  in  which  the  president 
describes  all  the  joys  of  the  hunter's  life.  Clip  that 
article  out  and  file  it  away  under  the  name  of  Smith. 
Next  time  you  go  to  Smith's  town,  take  it  along  and 


THE  TICKLER  IN  BUSINESS  55 

hand  him.  the  clipping,  with  the  remark  that  you  re- 
membered his  fondness  for  hunting  mallards  and 
thought  this  might  interest  him. 

Smith  can't  help  feeling  flattered  at  the  attention, 
and,  besides,  he  is  likely  to  gain  a  new  respect  for  you 
as  a  man  with  a  marvelous  memory— no  use  in  telling 
Him  about  the  tickler  system. 

A  Working  Tickler  More  Efficient  than  the  Politician's 
Caressing  Handclasp 

Every  buyer  has  a  human  side  to  him.  Most  of  them 
have  some  fad  or  fancy.  If  you  can't  get  directly  in 
touch  with  him  on  the  business  proposition,  suppose  you 
try  to  approach  him  on  his  "blind  side,"  which,  in  the 
case  of  Smith,  aforesaid,  was  duck  hunting. 

For  the  purpose  of  making  this  description  of  the 
"Tickler  Business  Getter"  as  simple  and  as  convinc- 
ing as  possible,  it  has  been  assumed  that  a  salesman 
is  the  man  at  the  desk.  But  by  changing  the  titles  on 
the  indexes,  a  credit  man,  a  buyer,  an  advertising 
manager,  or  almost  any  other  business  man,  may  pre- 
pare a  tickler  outfit  for  his  own  work,  which  will  be 
quite  as  useful  to  him.  And  it  should  be  especially 
noted  that,  whereas  the  human  brain  grows  more  feeble 
and  less  acute  with  advancing  age,  the  "auxiliary  brain" 
grows  stronger  and  more  valuable  with  every  week  it 
is  kept  up.  More  than  that,  when  the  man  who  has 
created  it  is  through  with  his  work,  he  may  turn  the 
tickler  business  getter  over  to  his  successor,  who  will 
find  it  equally  valuable.  In  no  other  way  may  a  man 
leave  his  brains  to  his  descendants. 

Once  you  get  your  tickler  business  getter  under 
way  and  find  out  how  well  it  works,  you  will  be  simply 


56  TAKING  CAKE  OF  DETAILS 

astonished  to  find  how  much  you  hear  and  see  and  read 
that  you  want  to  file  away.  Daily  you  will  find,  without 
at  all  looking  for  them,  items  which  will  apply  to  one  or 
another  of  the  different  headings  in  your  filing  case. 
And  the  longer  you  work  with  it,  the  more  you  will  ap- 
preciate its  value.  When  a  brother  salesman  asks,  in 
"deepest  awe  of  admiration,"  how  in  the  world  you 
always  seem  to  know  just  what  to  say  to  each  customer, 
you  will  wink  and  smile  and  point  to  the  upper  drawer  of 
your  desk.  And  if  you  are  a  kindly  person,  who  be- 
lieves in  helping  other  people  along,  you  will  take  him 
out  into  a  dark  corner  of  the  hallway  and  tell  him  the 
secret  which  is  here  told  you. 

There  are  more  men  than  you  might  suppose  who  owe 
their  reputations  for  gigantic  intellects  to  the  presence 
in  the  upper  right  hand  drawers  of  their  desks  of  a 
email  filing  case,  with  carefully  selected  subjects  in- 
icribed  on  index  cards. 


Concentrate 

FOCUS  your  ability  upon  one  point 
until  you  burn  a  hole  in  it.  Genius 
is  intensity  and  Digression  is  as  danger- 
ous as  stagnation.  "He  who  follows  two 
hares  catches  neither."  It  is  the  single 
aim  that  wins. 

Only  by  concentration  can  you  work 
out  a  satisfactory  system.  Get  your  mind 
on  it  and  keep  it  there.  Watch  every 
point — every  detail.  Hang  to  it  with  a 
bulldog  grip  till  you  get  the  thing  done. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
An  Emergency  Stock  of  Facts 

nnHERE  is  an  old  saying  that,  "It  is  not  so  much  to 
A  know,  as  to  know  where  to  find."  It  means,  "Re- 
spect the  limits  of  your  mind— don't  compete  with 
the  encyclopedia."  Anyone  who  has  hunted  for 
that  opinion  or  article  which  was  read  or  heard  a  while 
ago  will  appreciate  a  system  which  takes  care  in  a  simple 
manner  of  all  the  material  which  may  have  been  pre- 
served. The  business  and  professional  journals  and  the 
many  magazines  are  giving  forth,  as  never  before,  a  con- 
stant flow  of  literature  on  every  topic  of  interest,  the 
most  evanescent  elements  of  which  contain  matter  of 
practical  information  to  the  business  and  professional 
man  or  contain  articles  of  genuine  merit  that  are  worthy 
of  preservation. 

There  may  be  only  five  per  cent  of  your  month's  read- 
ing that  you  would  care  to  preserve,  but  these  choice  bits 
which  you  separate  from  the  mass  you  want  for  future 
reference  and  you  do  not  want  to  wade  through  ninety- 
five  per  cent  of  dead  matter  to  obtain  the  article  which 
you  consider  of  special  moment. 

Charles  H.  Spurgeon  grew  to  be  a  power  in  the 
Christian  ministry  because  of  his  inexhaustible  supply 

m 


58  TAKING  CARE  OF  DETAILS 

of  valuable  information.  He  kept  a  man  constantly  em« 
ployed,  who  did  nothing  else  but  search  the  British 
Museum  for  illustrations  which  he  might  use  in  his 
sermons.  These  illustrations  were  properly  classified  and 
cross-indexed  so  that  he  was  able  to  bring  forth  an  apt 
illustration  when  occasion  demanded. 

Like  a  busy  physician,  the  desk  man  in  these  days  of 
"the  strenuous  life"  must  realize  the  importance  of 
putting  away  his  instruments  where  he  can  lay  his  hands 
on  them  instantly  when  needed  in  an  emergency. 

A  Public  Speaker's  Secret,  and  How  to  Apply  It  to 
Your  Business 

One  of  our  noted  public  men  gives  a  striking  illus- 
tration of  the  value  of  keeping  and  properly  classifying 
clippings  and  memoranda.  Through  the  sudden  illness  of 
the  speaker  of  the  evening  he  was  called  upon  to  de- 
liver an  address,  with  only  an  hour's  time  in  which  to 
prepare  it.  He  went  home  and  within  half  an  hour  he 
had  glanced  over  all  the  clippings  that  he  had  gathered 
and  thoughts  which  he  had  made  note  of  on  this  par- 
ticular subject.  With  merely  a  card  in  his  hand  con- 
taining an  outline,  he  delivered  an  address  which  showed 
deep  thought  and  careful  preparation.  Those  who  un- 
derstood the  situation  were  profuse  in  their  congratu- 
lations, stating  that  they  did  not  see  how  it  was  possible 
for  anyone  in  such  a  short  time  to  deliver  such  an  im- 
passioned address.  He  replied, ' '  Gentlemen,  I  have  been 
ten  years  preparing  this  address.  It  has  been  my  habit 
for  many  years  to  make  note  of  an  anecdote  and  record 
on  the  instant  thoughts  that  come  to  me." 

A  great  deal  has  been  written  about  the  value  of 
keeping  and  preserving  memoranda  and  clippings,  but 


FACTS  FOB  EMERGENCIES  59 

only  crude  means  have  been  suggested  as  to  the  manner 
of  taking  care  of  them.  TLe  scrap-book  has  served  its 
day,  inasmuch  as  it  cannot  be  properly  indexed.  The 
envelope  system  is  also  of  the  old  stage-coach  days. 
Many  have  been  star  ed  and  afterwards  discarded  be- 
cause of  the  time  and  labor  required  to  work  them. 
What  one  needs  is  "putatability"  and  ' '  getatability. " 
The  system  used  in  the  office  of  a  prominent  manufac- 
turing company  consists  >f  a  cabinet  within  which  are 
eight  rows  of  what  may  be  termed  "portfolios."  This 
cabinet  contains  about  300  of  these  portfolios,  which  are 
made  of  pulp  board  open  at  the  top.  The  round  exposed 
end  is  bound  in  leatherette.  Each  portfolio  is  six  inches 
high,  one-half  inch  wide  and  eleven  inches  deep.  An 
index  is  arranged  by  taking  the  vowel  with  each  con- 
sonant, as,  AB,  AC,  AD,  etc.,  and  by  taking  each  initial 
consonant  and  combination  of  consonants  with  eacb 


MAGAZINE  OR  BOOK 


REFER  TO  FILE 


Form  IX:    These  cards  form  a  publication  file  spacious  enough  to  allow  a  concrete 
synopsis  of  the  subject  concerned 


60  TAKING  CARE  Oli1  DETAILS 

vowel,  as  BA,  BI,  BLA,  BLI,  BRA  BRE,  etc.  Thii 
makes  a  definite,  accurate  and  complete  index,  taking  in 
every  subject  and  word  in  the  English  language,  the  ar- 
rangpment  being  the  same  as  in  an  encyclopedia. 

Clippings,  memoranda  and  manuscripts  are  filed  in 
these  portfolios  under  the  title  of  the  subject.  F,  for 
example,  an  article  on  the  patent  "Finsen  Light"  would 
be  filed  in  the  portfolio  labeled  LI. 

For  library  classification,  n  card  index  (Form  IX) 
is  used  for  cards  printed  as  shown  in  the  illustration. 
This  card  index  is  placed  in  the  cabinet  and  contains 
alphabetical  guide  cards.  With  these  cards  you  read 
your  book  for  a  definite  purpose,  and  any  illustration  or 
subject  which  you  desire  to  refer  to  later  is  noted  on 
one  of  the  cards  shown. 


Do  It  Right 


I 


T  may  be  five  minutes  of  closing 
time  and  a  long  way  home;  it  may 
seem  that  more  important  things  com- 
mand you  to  hurry;  it  may  be  easier — 
more  shame — to  do  it  wrong.  But  take 
the  time  to  do  it  right. 

A  thing  done  right  is  done  for-ever. 
It  is  economical  to  do  it  right.  More 
time  today,  perhaps,  but  less  trouble 
tomorrow.  System  demands  it  of  every 
one  under  you — of  everyone  over  you — 
of  you  ;  do  it  RIGHT. 


Part  III 

HANDLING  THE  DAY'S 
WORK 


Keep  Going 

V\7"HEN  one  task  is  finished,  jump  into 
»  »     another.     Don't  hesitate.     Don't 
falter.    Don't  waver.    Don't  wait.    Keep 
going. 

Keep  going.  Doing  something  is  always 
better  than  doing  nothing. 

For  activity  breeds  ambition,  energy,  pro- 
gress, power.  And  hesitation  breeds  idle- 
ness, laziness,  shiftles^ness,  sloth. 

Don't  dawdle  in  the  hope  that  inspira- 
tion will  strike  you.  Inspiration  is  more 
likety  to  strike  the  busy  man  than  the 
idle  one. 

Save  the  half  hours  that  are  wasted  in 
waiting.  Take  time  once  for  all — the 
best  hour  of  the  twenty-four — to  plan 
ahead.  Then  keep  to  schedule.  That  is 
the  secret  of  system.  Keep  going. 


CHAPTER  IX 
Planning  the  Work  Ahead 

CROSSING  bridges  before  we  come  to  them  may  in- 
deed  be  foolish,  but  there  is  no  question  about  the 
wisdom  of  knowing  we  are  to  cross  them  and  preparing 
for  it,  even  when  they  are  miles  ahead. 

It  is  said  that  when  war  broke  out  between  Germany 
and  France  the  aides  of  the  great  German  commander- 
in-chief  rushed  to  his  bedside  in  the  dead  of  night  and 
awoke  him  from  a  sound  slumber  to  announce  the  im 
pending  calamity. 

"Well,  what  of  it?"  said  the  great  man  calmly,  after 
he  had  heard  through  the  breathless  messengers. 

"What  of  it?  What  of  it?"  chorused  the  excited 
group.  "Why,  what  shall  we  do  ?  We  want  your  ad- 
vice, your  course  of  procedure,  your  commands." 

"Look  in  the  upper  right  hand  pigeon-hoi?  of  my 
desk,"  he  responded  drowsily,  "and  you  will  find  the 
complete  line  of  attack  and  advance  for  the  next  six 
months." 

And  then  the  great  man  went  peacefully  back  to 
slumber,  as  though  he  had  heard  no  more  than  the  dis- 
turbing ring  of  an  ordinary  alarm  clock,  discharged 
two  hours  before  its  proper  schedule. 

62 


PLANNING  WORK  AHEAD  63 

You  may  question  that  part  of  the  story  in  which  it  is 
related  that  the  German  commander  resumed  his  nap, 
while  the  legions  of  France  were  supposedly  in  full 
career  against  his  country.  The  man  who  puts  his  whole 
trust  in  paper  plans  and  is  over-confident  of  his 
prescience,  is  well  on  the  way  to  the  proverbial  fall 
which  follows  upon  pride. 

Genius  in  the  Business  Commander  Consists  in  Fore- 
sight and  Preparation 

Yet  there  is  the  making  of  great  generals,  whethei  for 
business  or  war,  in  that  foresight  and  forehandedness 
which  anticipates  events  as  far  as  possible,  and  then 
stands  ready  with  eye  and  hand  to  meet  the  unforeseen. 
The  faculty  of  never  being  taken  by  surprise,  of  having 
a  course  of  action  already  mapped  out  to  meet  every  pos- 
sible business  contingency,  means  much.  It  means  that 
while  other  men  are  coping  with  the  unexpected  piled  on 
top  of  the  neglected,  the  real  general  is  concentrating  his 
full  attention  upon  the  little  tricks  of  fortune,  knowing 
that  the  usual  and  probable  are  in  the  grasp  of  his  desk 
partner,  System.  The  secret  of  one-man  superiority  ia  in 
the  other  selves  of  forethought  who  guard  every  possible 
avenue  of  flank  attack  and  leave  the  contestant  free  to 
face  the  direct  onslaught  of  events.  Genius  in  general- 
ship consists  simply  in  being  prepared. 

The  office  man  whose  perpetual  plea  is  "I  forgot"  ia 
not  necessarily  a  human  being  bereft  of  a  memory.  He 
may  be  simply  the  office  man  who  has  no  foresight— who 
does  not  look  ahead.  He  lives  from  hand  to  mouth,  do- 
ing the  things  that  turn  up  and  taking  problems  as  they 
come,  without  forethought  or  preparation.  His  office 
life  ia  one  long  unbroken  aeries  of  surprises,  unexpected 


64  HANDLING  THE  DAY'S  WORK 

complications,  unforeseen  difficulties,  anxiety  and  worry 
about  the  ill-considered  things  ahead. 

He  has  his  hours  of  careless  ease,  to  be  sure ;  but  they 
grow  rarer  day  by  day.  Matters  which  seemed  unf  orget- 
able,  he  finds  gradually  fading.  He  wishes  he  had  made 
a  note  of  this  or  that.  He  worries  about  the  inevitable 
time  when  he  shall  be  called  upon  for  the  things  which 
he  should  know  about  and  does  not.  The  routine  of  a 
busy  life  mounts  about  him  like  quicksands.  The  farther 
in  he  gets,  the  more  difficult  it  is  for  him  to  extricate  him- 
self. Everything  put  off,  done  wrong,  left  unclassified, 
stands  waiting,  visibly,  inexorably,  for  further  attention. 
Confusion  increases  by  geometrical  progression.  A  jack 
screw  will  soon  be  the  only  way  to  get  that  man  out  of 
the  rut  and  on  the  smooth  highway  of  Order. 

Eliminating  the  Bogey  Man  from  Business— A  Cure  for 
Bad  Nerves 

It  is  only  the  "unknown"  and  the  "uncertain"  that 
inspire  terror,  fear  and  nervousness.  The  office  man  who 
does  not  look  ahead  is  always  afraid  of  the  things  that 
exist  there,  and  labors  under  a  constant  stage  fright  that 
he  may  not  be  able  to  handle  these  things  when  they  step 
from  the  dark  future  into  the  limelight  of  the  present. 

The  only  man  in  business  who  enjoys  perfect  peace  of 
mind  and  serene  mental  poise,  is  the  man  who  is  fully 
prepared,  who  has  sized  up  the  difficulties  in  front  of 
him,  decided  that  they  are  not  "such  a  much"  after  all, 
and  then  straightway  prepares  a  Waterloo  for  each 
tough  proposition.  "If  such  and  such  a  thing  should 
happen,  I'll  do  so  and  so,"  and  then  he  can  enjoy  the 
peaceful  repose  of  the  historic  German  general,  with  the 
confidence  that  he  has  a  club  ready  for  the 


PLANNING  WORK  AHEAD  65 

We  cannot  foretell  and  forearm  for  every  emergency, 
of  course.  Thus  your  letterhead  reads,  "We  cannot 
be  responsible  for  contingencies  beyond  our  control." 
But  the  point  is,  to  prepare  for  as  many  of  them  as  pos- 
sible, to  change  the  future  from  a  line  of  dark,  gloomy 
uncertainties  into  a  procession  of  perfectly  plain  and  defi- 
nitely understood  tasks. 

Studying  Out  Future  Battles  and  Planning  the  Strategy 
of  Business 

Every  man  can  lay  out  some  kind  of  a  business  pro- 
gram for  the  month  or  the  year  ahead.  He  can  pre- 
pare not  only  for  tomorrow,  but  for  the  day  and  the 
year  after.  The  method  is  to  simply  take  a  quiet  hour 
or  two,  divide  the  year  ahead  into  seasons  and  figure  out 
the  things  that  should  be  done  in  those  seasons.  Every 
business  man  has  certain  tasks  he  would  like  to  accom- 
plish within  stated  periods.  There  is  the  "inventory 
time,"  "the  advertising  time,"  the  time  for  auditing 
the  books,  for  making  the  periodical  "road  trip,"  for 
taking  the  annual  vacation.  Let  him  canvass  his  mind 
for  the  things  he  should  have  done  but  did  not  do  during 
each  of  these  periods  last  year,  and  then  let  him  make  a 
note  of  the  number  of  days  ahead  he  will  have  to  begin 
work  on  them  this  year,  in  order  to  successfully  ac- 
complish them. 

Our  silent  partner,  the  tickler,  is  the  only  counselor 
we  need  to  help  us  plan  out  the  work  ahead,  and  we 
should  depend  upon  it  to  the  fullest  extent.  Jot  down 
on  separate  cards  (Form  X)  plans  that  are  to  be  put 
through  at  a  future  date,  then  file  them  in  the  tickler  a 
few  days  ahead  of  the  time  we  want  them  to  reach  the 
maturity  of  accomplishment. 


66  HANDLING  THE  DAY'S  WORK 

There  are  vital  things  we  want  to  put  through  next 
{January — an  increase  in  salary  or  in  profits  may  depend 
upon  them.  Make  an  itemized  list  of  them,  putting  each 
problem  or  task  on  a  separate  card,  and  then  stating 
under  the  main  task,  just  what  specific  operations  are 
necessary  to  push  them  through  to  a  successful  end. 
After  each  operation  of  this  sort,  put  the  date  this 
separate  task  should  be  performed,  make  a  special  tickler 
for  it  (Form  XI),  and  file  it  under  the  desired  date. 


^ 


// 


/• '/#?•' 


Form  X:    Two  cards  from  the  tickler,  outlining  the  beginning  of  a  business  project  and 
the  tasks  required  to  set  it  in  motion 


PLANNING  WORK  AHEAD  67 

The  main  problem  card  we  will  file  under  January, 
and  as  we  accomplish  each  separate  operation,  we  will 
tear  up  the  separate  tickler  cards  we  have  made  for  them, 
and  check  them  off  on  the  main  card. 

Active  Brain  Cells  in  a  Wooden  Box — How  the  Tickler 
Discounts  the  Future 

I  am  firmly  convinced  that  the  man  who  has  the  fore- 
sight habit,  and  who  is  a  master  of  the  tickler  system, 
has  really  a  double  brain.  And  I  very  much  doubt  if 
even  two  brains,  without  the  tickler's  aid,  could  success- 
fully handle  the  same  volume  of  detail. 

It  is  not  enough,  however,  for  the  tickler  to  remem- 
ber the  big  things  to  be  done  in  the  distant  future;  it 
should  remember  the  little  things  to  be  done  in  the  im- 
mediate present  That  is  its  first  and  biggest  duty. 

No  man  can  afford  to  rely  upon  his  mind  to  keep  tab 
on  his  obligations,  even  though  his  mind  is  big  and  strong 
enough  to  carry  off  the  responsibility  with  blue  ribbon 
honors  and  retain  all  he  puts  into  it.  The  brain  is  not  an 
index  or  a  calendar  pad ;  it  should  be  left  free  from  de- 
tail, from  anxiety,  from  the  burden  of  remembering 
little  things.  It  should  have  a  clean  sweep,  to  think  and 
to  plan  and  to  do  the  greater  creative  work,  not  the 
minor  memorizing. 

The  man  who  has  a  reputation  for  a  good  memory 
usually  has  no  exceptional  memory  at  all.  He  has  a 
good  tickler  and  uses  it. 

The  tickler  habit  means  two  things;  using  the  tickler 
constantly  when  you  are  in  the  office,  and  having  a  note 
book  in  your  pocket  to  use  when  you  are  elsewhere. 
If  you  are  outside  and  happen  to  make  a  promise 
or  an  engagement,  jot  it  down  and  post  it  to  the  tickler 


:  ^ 


Form  XI:    Last  two  cards  of  project,  each  filed  in  tickler  two  days  ahead  of  the  date 
set  for  their  fulfillment 

when  you  get  back  at  your  desk.  This,  and  the  habit  of 
consulting  the  tickler  unfailingly  and  carefully  at  the 
beginning  of  each  day,  is  memory  enough  for  any  man, 
from  president  down. 

How  the  Categories  of  Business  Must  File  Away  the 
Day's  Impressions 

The  note  book  and  the  tickler  have  a  great  many  other 
virtues,  too  well  known  to  need  mention  here.    One  of 


PLANNING  WORK  AHEAD  69 

them,  however,  is  the  place  they  provide  for  ideas,  im- 
pressions, thoughts.  We  are  constantly  picking  up  sug- 
gestions, hints  and  schemes  that  may  have  a  future  value. 
Our  day's  mail  contains  them,  our  business  conversation 
brings  them  out ;  we  get  them  in  everything  we  read  and 
hear.  The  man  who  says,  "That's  a  good  idea.  I'll  use 
that  when  the  proper  time  comes,"  may  have  the  best 
of  intentions,  but  when  the  proper  time  does  come,  the 
chances  are  he  will  have  forgotten  all  about  his  good  idea. 

Don't  give  yourself  the  chance  to  forget.  Make  a 
one  word  note.  This  afternoon  when  there  is  a  lull  in 
the  desk  battle,  elaborate  th€  note  and  file  it.  Just  in 
that  way  have  great  businesses  been  built,  great  orations 
conceived,  great  novels  given  their  keenest  interest.  The 
authors  are  few  who  do  not  note  down  the  best  and  most 
novel  ideas  that  flash  across  their  minds  in  idle  hours; 
who  do  not  use  the  editor's  shears  for  everyday  hap- 
penings that  are  strange  beyond  the  imagination's  con- 
ception. The  mind  will  not  always  respond  to  the  whip ; 
when  least  expected,  it  often  gives  its  richest  results. 

If  you  get  a  good  plan  or  scheme  that  may  have  some 
future  value,  make  a  tickler  note  of  it  and  file  it  ahead 
thirty  days.  If  you  can't  use  it  at  the  end  of  the  first 
thirty  days,  file  it  ahead  another  thirty.  Some  morning 
it  will  come  up  before  you  as  a  Godsend,  and  your  tickler 
will  deserve  the  credit. 

And  to  close  this  chapter,  I  wish  to  add  just  one  word 
of  kindly  warning  that  so  many — oh,  so  many — desk 
men  constantly  ignore:  "Don't  put  off  the  tickler." 
Whatever  else  you  must  neglect,  do  what  the  tickler  tells 
you  to  do.  A  command  on  the  tickler  is  an  imperial 
dictum  that  brooks  no  compromise.  It  is  an  obligation 
due,  and  it  must  be  paid.  Give  yourself  no  days  of  grace. 


70  HANDLING  THE  DAY'S  WORK 

A  tickler  might  just  as  well  be  consigned  to  the  scrap 
heap  if  its  owner  is  going  to  disobey  it  and  put  off  and 
file  ahead  the  things  it  says  should  be  done  today. 

Procrastination  is  as  bad  or  worse  than  forgetfulness. 
It  is  not  only  the  thief  of  time,  but  it  robs  the  tickler 
of  its  purpose  and  value.  The  tickler  must  be  fortified 
with  the  "Do  It  Now"  system. 

That  a  reputation  for  honesty  is  more  to  be  desired 
than  riches  is  not  mere  Sunday  school  platitude.  It  is 
sound  business  sense.  And  any  man  can  have  this  repu- 
tation if  he  uses  a  tickler  system  faithfully  and  obeys  itl 


Learn  More,  Earn  More 

rpWENTY     centuries    of    business 
•••  experience  have  honored  this  old 
Greek  proverb. 

There  is  no  truer  law. 

The  vital  problem  with  the  employer 
is  not—  how  can  I  secure  richer  divi- 
dends; but  how  can  I  devise  the  ideas 
and  plans  that  will  produce  them.  And 
so  with  the  employee,  not — how  can  I 
scheme  to  get  promotion,  but  how  can 
I  study  to  fill  it  when  it  comes. 

You  long  for  bigger  salary,  larger 
profits,  greater  success.  Then  develop 
bigger  ability,  larger  capacity,  greater 
thought.  Success  has  its  price — and 
you  can  pay  it  if  you  will,  but  ability 
is  the  only  coin  that  passes  current  in 
its  purchase. 


CHAPTER  X 
The  Steps  in  the  Day's  Work 

A  WELL  GROOMED,  smug  person,  smoking  black 
cigars — that  is  the  portrait  people  paint  when  they 
enviously  think  of  the  general  manager.  That  picture, 
however,  is  either  conjured  up  before  they  know  him, 
or  is  snapped  in  the  afternoon  when  the  general  man- 
ager has  cleaned  up  his  work  bench — his  desk.  He 
smokes  afternoons  because  he  works  first — with  a  system. 
When  the  efficient  office  executive  arrives  at  his  desk 
at  8 :30  he  has  one  absorbing  purpose  in  mind — to  clear 
up  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  detail  in  the  shortest 
possible  time.  His  object  is  to  pick  up  the  chips  so  he 
can  get  down  to  work  on  the  big  things  of  his  business. 
His  time  is  valuable — it  costs  the  firm  dollars  an  hour — 
and  he  wishes  to  apply  it  to  important  work — such  as 
conferences  with  employees,  with  the  members  of  the 
firm,  and  the  discussion  of  matters  of  policy  and  business 
getting.  One  thing  only  makes  this  possible — desk  system. 

Clearing  the  Desk  for  Action,  and  Preparing  for  the 
Day's  Work 

In  the  first  place,  the  effective  executive  sees  that  hia 
desk  (Form  XII)   is  as  clear  of  all  unnecessary  material 

71 


72 


HANDLING  THE  DAY'S  WORK 


ff 

0 

SKETS 
FROM 

IISECRCTARY 

U 

0   z 

Z     0 

2  >• 

a 

La 

o 

0 

a 

W   * 

5  g 

CD 

I 

0 

STEPS  IN  THE  DAY'S  WORK  73 

as  a  battleship  in  action.  But,  like  a  trained  com- 
mander, he  has  the  material  at  hand  for  ready  use. 
Some  busy  executives  have  become  so  zealous  over  a 
clear  desk  that  they  have  substituted  for  the  standard 
desk  a  flat  table,  2y2  by  3y2  feet,  over  which  they  trans- 
act all  business.  The  only  really  necessary  tools  on  this 
table  are  the  ordinary  office  tickler,  the  reminder  tab 
and  the  telephones.  This  leaves  the  remainder  of  the 
desk  clear  for  the  handling  of  papers  and  documents 
coming  to  hand  during  the  day. 

The  large  tickler  is  one  capable  of  carrying  an  ordi- 
nary envelope.  It  contains  tabs  for  the  days  of  the  week 
and  the  days  of  the  month.  As  matters  come  up  which 
cannot  be  disposed  of  the  same  day,  the  reminder  slip  is 
placed  back  of  the  proper  date.  The  arrangement  of  the 
tickler  is  such  that  it  is  perpetual,  and  can  be  used  for 
any  month  of  the  year.  The  reminder  on  the  desk  is 
simply  a  small  pad  fo^  noting  tasks  of  the  day. 

The  telephones  are  on  a  .swinging  arm  to  the  right  of 
the  desk,  one  the  house  telephone  by  which  the  executive 
communicates  with  all  the  departments  of  his  establish- 
ment, the  other  the  outside  telephone.  He  places  the 
stenographer's  desk  parallel  to  his  own  and  to  the  right, 
so  that  the  stenographer,  or  secretary,  by  the  convenience 
of  the  swinging  arm,  can  answer  the  phone. 

Directly  back  of  the  executive's  desk,  so  that  he  may 
swing  in  his  chair  to  it,  is  a  long  desk  or  table  on  which 
is  a  bookcase.  On  the  desk  under  or  in  front  of  the 
bookcase  are  a  number  of  wire  baskets  in  which  papers 
may  be  distributed.  There  are  six  or  more  of  these  ac- 
cording to  the  special  requirements. 

The  general  manager  delegates  to  his  private  secre- 
tary or  stenographer,  the  responsibility  of  seeing  that 


74  HANDLING  THE  DAY'S  WOEK 

all  details  come  to  his  attention  at  the  right  time,  and 
that  his  decisions  on  them  are  carried  out.  Aside  from 
the  material  such  as  general  correspondence,  catalogs  and 
other  documents  which  go  into  the  general  files,  the  sec- 
retary needs  but  one  set  of  vertical  files.  One  file  she 
uses  as  a  correspondence  follow-up. 

Another  file  or  drawer  is  required  for  holding  any  doc- 
uments or  folders  of  papers,  catalogs  or  material  of  any 
variety  to  which  the  executive  refers  constantly,  or 
which  is  confidential  or  on  which  he  is  accumulating 
data.  The  secretary  files  these  behind  folders  on  which 
is  written  the  subject  matter  of  the  material. 

The  secretary  the  first  thing  in  the  morning  picks  out 
of  the  tickler  file  all  matters  that  are  to  come  up  on 
that  date.  Any  appointments  or  affairs  to  be  attended 
to  she  writes  on  the  executive's  reminder  pad.  If  tickler 
slips  indicate  that  certain  matters  are  to  be  considered 
by  the  executive  on  this  day  or  certain  data  to  be  ex- 
amined, the  secretary  sees  tiiat  the  papers  or  other  ma- 
terial referring  to  these  matters  are  on  the  chief's  desk. 

Thus  with  the  co-operation  of  his  secretary,  his  dis- 
tribution baskets,  filing  cases  and  the  arrangement  of  his 
desk,  the  executive  does  in  six  hours  what  an  unsys- 
tematic man  would  be  dawdling  over  when  the  janitor 
came  around  to  lock  up. 


Divide  to  Double 

DIVIDE  the  Day's  Work:   errands 
to  boys — routine  to  clerks — for  the 
brain  of  the  business,  only  vital,  worth- 
while deeds  and  decisions. 


CHAPTER  XI 
Routine  for  the  Desk  Man's  Assistant 

EVERY  executive  has  an  assistant.  He  may  be  an 
eight  dollar  a  week  clerk  or  a  highly  paid  private 
secretary.  In  either  case  his  desk  system  is  just  as  im- 
portant as  that  of  his  superior.  For  the  assistant's 
one  all-absorbing  duty  is  to  take  from  the  executive  he 
serves  as  much  detail  as  possible.  How  much  he  will 
take  and  how  well  it  is  handled  depends  upon  his  sys- 
tem and  judgment. 

The  executive's  work  nowadays  centers  around  his 
correspondence.  This  is  laid  on  his  desk  in  the  morning 
by  the  person  who  opens  the  mail,  the  executive's  clerk 
contributing  to  this  pile  of  mail  such  matters  as  his 
follow-up  shows  are  to  come  to  the  attention  of  the 
executive  on  that  date. 

How  the  Clerk's  System  Cares  for  the  Executive's 
Correspondence 

Taking  up  the  mail,  the  executive  dictates  various 
kinds  of  replies.  Whatever  they  may  be,  the  clerk's 
filing  system  will  take  care  of  them.  This  system  con- 
sists in  the  first  place  of  the  regular  correspondence 
file,  in  which  are  placed  papers  referring  to  matters  thai 


76  HANDLING  THE  DAY'S  WORK 

are  closed.  Any  letters  or  papers  regarding  negotiations 
which  are  still  pending  go  into  one  or  another  of  the  fol- 
low-up files.  If  a  letter  requires  an  answer  in  a  certain 
number  of  days  and  therefore  is  to  come  up  again  when 
that  time  has  expired,  or  if  a  matter  has  been  put  aside 
and  is  to  be  taken  up  again  after  a  certain  length  of 
time,  it  goes  into  the  correspondence  follow-up,  a  vertical 
file  with  thirty-one  guides  for  the  days  of  the  month  and 
twelve  guides  for  the  months  of  the  year.  The  executive 
may  make  no  answer  to  some  letters  and  papers  at  all — 
simply  directing  them  to  be  filed  ahead.  It  is  the  duty 
of  his  clerk  to  see  that  they  are  filed  ahead  properly  and 
that  they  come  to  the  attention  of  the  executive  on  the 
proper  date. 

In  the  same  drawer  with  the  follow-up  the  clerk  may 
keep  a  number  of  folders  for  "other  matter" — letters 
and  papers  which  are  not  to  be  taken  up  on  any  specific 
date,  but  are  held  open,  and  to  which  papers  and  data 
of  various  kinds  are  to  be  added  from  time  to  time.  It 
is  in  the  use  of  these  folders  that  the  system  may  be 
varied  to  suit  different  kinds  of  executives.  A  sales- 
manager,  for  instance,  will  probably  have  a  folder  for 
each  of  his  branch  house  managers ;  the  purchasing  agent 
will  have  folders  for  different  jobs  on  which  he  is  getting 
bids ;  a  production  manager  will  have  folders  for  various 
matters  which  he  has  gradually  worked  up.  This  part 
of  the  system  can  be  extended  to  almost  any  extent  and 
made  a  valuable  and  convenient  help  in  the  executive's 
work. 

These  folders  should  be  filed  alphabetically.  In  the 
case  of  an  executive,  however — one  who  has  a  great  many 
open  matters  of  this  kind,  running  perhaps  into  the 
hundreds — it  is  best  to  make  a  card  index  of  the  fold- 


ROUTINE  FOB  ASSISTANTS  77 

era,  according  to  subjects,  and  file  the  folders  numer- 
ically. This  scheme  also  allows  a  cross  index  to  different 
subjects.  To  file  the  folders  most  conveniently  the  clerk 
should  have  a  two-drawer  vertical  cabinet  standing  out- 
side his  desk.  One  drawer  can  then  be  used  for  filing 
current  correspondence,  the  other  for  the  follow-up  and 
the  subject  folders.  For  all  matters  requiring  future 
consideration  not  included  in  letters  and  other  papers, 
a  follow-up  slip  should  be  filed.  This  rule  should  be 
followed  whether  the  affair  demands  the  attention  of 
the  executive,  the  clerk  or  some  third  person.  These  re- 
minders will  cover  such  matters  as  insurance,  reports  to 
be  made  by  subordinates  and  so  forth.  Instructions 
which  the  executive  gives  to  third  persons  should  be  made 
in  written  form,  and  a  carbon  copy  of  them  filed  in  the 
follow-up  to  the  date  on  which  the  work  is  to  be  com- 
pleted. When  the  carbon  copy  comes  up  in  the  follow- 
up  the  clerk  himself  should  inquire  from  the  third  per- 
son whether  the  work  has  been  done  and  report  de- 
velopments. The  chief  must  know  absolutely  that  his 
system  will  grind  out  returns. 

Making  the  Clerk's  Desk  an  Efficient  Tool  in  the 
Office  System 

If  the  clerk  has  a  one-pedestal  desk  he  can  use  the 
bottom  drawer  for  such  things  as  books  and  catalogs 
which  the  executive  or  himself  may  want  preserved  for 
reference.  The  second  drawer  from  the  bottom  may  be 
used  for  stationery;  the  third  from  the  bottom  for  sup- 
plies and  the  top  for  unfinished  business.  A  clerk,  even 
more  than  an  executive,  should  never  keep  on  top  of  his 
desk  matters  on  which  he  is  at  work.  As  soon  as  he 
comes  from  the  executive's  office  with  his  pile  of  papers 


78  HANDLING  THE  DAY'S  WORK 

he  should  put  them  in  the  top  drawer  of  his  desk  and 
take  them  out  one  by  one  for  disposal. 

Keeping  the  Top  of  the  Desk  Like  a  Ship's  Deck, 
Cleared  for  Action 

On  top  of  his  desk  the  clerk  need  merely  have  a 
three  decker  basket.  One  section  of  this  is  for  incoming 
mail,  and  he  knows  that  it  always  contains  matter  he 
has  not  seen  and  must  take  up.  Another  basket  is 
marked  "messenger,"  and  receives  all  papers  which  are 
intended  for  other  people  in  the  office.  The  third  basket 
contains  all  papers  intended  for  the  general  file.  The 
clerk  should  also  have  on  his  desk  a  folder  for  the 
executive,  in  which  he  places,  as  they  come  up  during 
the  day,  any  papers  which  are  to  be  brought  to  the  execu- 
tive *s  attention,  and  the  letters  awaiting  the  executive's 
signature. 

The  foregoing  system  enables  the  clerk  to  keep  his  own 
desk  clean  as  well  as  the  executive's.  It  saves  the  chief's 
mind  from  a  burden  of  details  and  at  the  same  time 
provides  for  a  ready  means  of  reference  to  anything  he 
desires  to  take  up,  and  it  makes  some  provision  for  dis- 
posing of  all  matters  on  the  same  day  they  come  to  the 
executive  for  attention. 


Unload ! 

SLOUGH  off  the  tasks  cheaper  gray 
matter   can  handle.     Spend    your 
force  on  real    problems — the    biggest 
work    in    sight — building,    extending, 
safeguarding. 


Part  IV 

WRITING  A  BUSINESS 
GETTING  LETTER 


IT  takes  a  long  time  to  write  a  descrip- 
tion of  something  you  don't  know. 

It  takes  a  good  many  words  to  picture  in 
another's  mind  something  whicn  you  see 
only  vaguely  in  your  own. 

Your  brain  cannot  puzzle  out  intricacies, 
and  at  the  same  time  make  choice  of  words 
and  ways  of  placing  these  ideas  before 

•/  i  O 

another  mind  clearly,  compellingly.  Men 
soon  detect  the  sham  who  explains  things 
he  doesn't  comprehend. 

To  study  out  a  problem  is  a  man's  task. 
To  make  someone  else  understand  it  is  a 
greater  one.  Don't  attempt  both  at  once. 

Wrap  your  mind  about  the  thing  you 
have  to  sell — analyze  it — study  it — finger 
it  all  over  with  the  tentacles  of  the  brain. 

Concentrate  upon  it  till  vou  see  it  plainly 
in  your  mind.  Then  tell  it.  But  first  of 
all  —Know  the  Facts. 


CHAPTER  XII 
Winning  the  Reader's  Attention 

C^UPPOSE  we  put  a  real  business-getting  missive  on  the 
^  operating  table — take  it  apart,  limb  by  limb,  para- 
graph by  paragraph — and  then  examine  it  under  the 
powerful  microscope  of  an  analytical  mind— what  will 
we  find? 

A  lot  of  smooth,  well-rounded  sentences;  clever  and 
brilliant  epigrams;  flowery  and  original  metaphors;  all 
this,  gracefully  strung  together — and  nothing  more? 

Bless  you,  no!  Mere  rhetoric  doesn't  persuade  and 
convince ;  men  do  not  buy  goods  because  of  classic  and 
beautiful  expressions. 

We  will  find  instead,  the  brains  and  framework,  the 
heart  and  soul,  the  blood  and  essence  of  a  salesman's 
talk,  transformed  like  an  old  autumn  leaf  impressed  in 
the  family  album,  from  real  life  to  cold  paper.  That's 
all. 

There  are  three  distinct  factors  or  processes  in  the 
letter  that  sells  goods,  just  as  there  are  in  the  successful 
personal  interview. 

First,  there's  the  effective  approach,  the  warm,  hearty 
hand-clasp  style  of  an  opening,  the  eye-catching,  atten- 
tion-getting introduction. 

80 


ATTRACTING  THE  READER  81 

You  know  what  a  good  start  means  to  a  salesman. 
And  to  a  letter  it  means  even  more. 

Then  comes  the  effective  argument,  the  get-right-down- 
to-business  element  that  does  the  real  convincing  and 
mind-swaying. 

For  a  mere  "smart"  beginning,  the  sole  ability  to 
catch  and  hold  the  interest,  won't  sell  a  product. 

You  have  got  to  focus  this  interest  on  the  value  of 
your  goods.  You  have  got  to  show  in  clear,  decisive 
argument  just  why  you  deserve  an  order,  and  why  it 
means  money  out  of  the  buyer's  pocket  if  you  do  not 
get  it.  And  this  is  the  work  of  the  second  element  in 
the  letter,  the  "reason  why"  element. 

But  all  your  argument  and  persuasion  is  of  no  avail 
if  your  customer  doesn't  actually  sign  the  order.  "We 
have  a  host  of  pretty  good  'talkers,'  "  said  Manager 
Buckner  of  the  New  York  Life;  "but  mighty  few  real 
'closers.'  " 

Often  your  argument  will  compel  the  buyer  to  respect 
your  goods.  But  is  it  strong  enough  to  make  him  decide 
to  actually  buy  them?  Will  it  make  him  say,  "I'll  send 
for  that  proposition  now,"  and  then  make  him  do  it? 

Corking  the  Buyer's  Loophole  at  the  Eight  Moment  and 
Clinching  the  Sale 

If  it  won't,  your  letter  lacks  in  the  last  element  of  a 
successful  order-bringer — the  closing  element,  the  tact- 
ful, diplomatic,  yet  firm  and  insistent  climax  that  flashes 
the  order  blank  at  exactly  the  right  moment  and  mag- 
netizes the  buyer's  name  to  it. 

So  far  as  most  form  letter-writers  are  concerned,  we 
might  just  as  well  forget  all  about  these  last  two  ele- 
ments. 


82  BUSINESS-GETTING  LETTERS 

We  might  almost  neglect  to  remember  that  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  a  story  to  read  or  an  offer  to  consider. 

Because  it  doesn't  make  any  difference  whether  they 
tell  us  about  these  things  or  not,  we  never  get  that  far 
into  the  average  form  letter.  A  poor  opening  kills  all 
interest  and  desire  to  read  beyond  the  first  paragraph. 

Nothing,  in  fact,  is  so  sure  to  bar  and  padlock  the  way 
to  the  signing  of  the  order  blank  as  a  weak  start.  If 
the  comedian's  first  joke,  the  speaker's  first  words,  the 
writer's  opening  paragraph  are  commonplace  and  point- 
less, the  prejudice  thus  created  in  the  beginning  clings 
until  the  end. 

A  letter  might  offer  a  ton  of  radium  for  the  price  of 
a  similar  quantity  of  coal,  yet  no  reader  would  buy  it 
if  the  first  paragraph  did  not  induce  him  to  read  about 
it. 

And  so,  "It's  the  first  chapter  of  a  book  that  wins  or 
loses  the  interest  that  urges  the  reader  through  to  the 
last."  Here  all  the  ingenuity  of  the  writer  must  be 
called  into  play,  all  the  desires,  interests  and  likings  of 
the  reader  successfully  catered  to. 

If  a  salesman  can't  get  a  hearing— if  his  approach  is 
weak,  clumsy  and  ineffective,  he  can't  land  a  sale  even 
if  he  knows  all  the  closing  arguments  and  star  talking 
points  in  the  house's  primer.  And  neither  can  a  letter. 

Forgetting  Self  and  Applying  the  "You"  Element  to 
Business 

There  is  too  much  "We"  in  the  beginning  of  the  aver- 
age sales  missive.  It's  "We"  have  "so  and  so"  to 
offer;  "WE"  contemplate  "this"  and  "WE"  intend 
to  do  "  that. ' '  But  what  do  you  care  about  what ' '  WE ' ' 
dot 


ATTRACTING  THE  READER  83 

How  are  your  interests  affected  by  a  statement  re- 
garding ' '  OURS ' '  ?  The  closest  way  to  you,  is  ' '  YOU. ' ' 

The  never-ending  source  of  attraction  and  concern  to 
me,  is  "ME." 

And  so  the  form  letter  man  who  begins  by  talking 
about  himself  instead  of  about  "us"  or  "you,"  will 
seldom  secure  the  attention  of  anyone  outside  of  the  man 
who  empties  the  waste  basket. 

For  example,  a  manufacturer  writes  me  to-day :  "We 
have  perfected,  and  are  now  prepared  to  supply  our 
new,  patent,  brass-lined,  double-rimmed,  rust  proof,  ex- 
celsior gas  burner — the  peer  of  them  all." 

But  that  doesn't  affect  my  cost  of  production.  I 
hold  no  stock  in  the  gas  burner  industry.  He  might 
as  well  announce  the  discovery  of  a  new  mud  puddle  on 
South  Clark  Street  so  far  as  my  interest  is  concerned. 

But  if  he  had  said:  "See  here,  Mr.  Gas  Burner,  you 
spend  $2.50  a  month  more  for  gas  light  than  you  ought 
to  spend.  And  yet  in  spite  of  this  waste  you  are  not 
getting  the  brilliant  illumination  you  are  paying  for. 

"I  can  cut  your  gas  bills  in  two,  give  you  better, 
clearer,  brighter  light,  and  save  you  $2.50  a  month.  And 
the  whole  outlay  to  you  will  be  simply  the  price  of  one 
of  our  new  gas  burners." 

If  he  had  said  this — ah !  that  would  have  been  a  dif- 
ferent matter. 

For  here  is  a  letter  that  gets  as  close  to  me  as  my  own 
desk,  that  touches  my  pocket-book,  my  business  heart. 

A  letter  that  even  offers  to  put  some  real  money  into 
my  cash  drawer.  And  there's  no  more  interesting  propo- 
sition than  this. 

The  nearest  subject  to  ME,  I  repeat,  is  ME.  The  ace- 
high  theme  with  you,  is  YOU. 


84 

We  sit  up  and  take  notice  when  the  guns  of  attrac- 
tive argument  and  effective  salesmanship  are  leveled 
directly  at  us.  We  either  must  get  out  of  the  way  or 
stand  and  take  the  shot.  We  have  got  to  see,  read  and 
decide  one  way  or  another,  if  a  good  beginning  gets  us 
into  the  heart  of  a  letter. 

But  when  you  point  your  letter-shot  somewhere  up  in 
the  air  of  foreign  interests;  or  fire  at  random  in  some 
other  direction  the  opposite  to  ours,  there  is  no  reason 
why  we  should  budge  an  inch,  AND  WE  DON'T. 

The  successful  form  letter  man  talks  to  you  about  your 
own  affairs.  He  knows  you  are  too  busy  to  bother  about 
his.  And  that's  why  his  letters  pull. 

See  that  you  get  the  word  "You"  in  the  opening 
sentence  of  your  next  form  letter  and  in  one  or  more  of 
your  first  paragraphs  in  the  "paragraph  book." 


Mold  Men's  Minds 

THE  purpose  of  publicity,  paid  or 
free,  is  to  make  the  advertiser's 
argument  a  part  of  the  community's 
thought. 

While  a  man  knows  that  he  is  under 
fire,  he  is  wary  and  hangs  stubbornly 
to  his  own  opinion.  Give  him  the  facts 
and  then  let  him  think. 

But  when  he  finds  that  you  have 
the  right  idea — when  unconsciously  he 
comes  around  to  your  way  of  thinking; 
then  you  may  count  on  him  to  vie  with 
you  in  spreading  your  doctrine. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
Creating  a  Desire  to  Buy 

IT  doesn't  take  a  magician  to  turn  inquiries  into 
orders;  it  takes  a  genuine,  live  salesman.  A  good 
many  people  imagine  thoughtlessly  that  there  is  some  un- 
fathomable "trick"  about  the  writing  of  convincing 
form  letters.  The  mail-order  business-getter  is,  in  their 
conception,  a  sort  of  a  long-range  hypnotist,  endowed 
with  some  mystic  knack  of  turning  sentences  and  twist- 
ing statements  so  that  they  bring  in  money. 

But  there  is  no  "trick"  or  "mystery"  about  it.  It 
is  plain,  everyday  salesmanship ;  nothing  more.  And  as 
often  as  this  has  been  said  before,  it's  still  worth  another 
double-lined  emphasis. 

The  same  kind  of  talk  that  makes  us  buy  goods  of  a 
human  salesman,  creates  in  us  the  same  desire  to  buy 
of  a  letter  salesman.  It  is  commonsense  argument; 
the  kind  that  makes  it  clear  and  conclusive  that  the 
goods  described  are  the  goods  we  need. 

It  is  the  kind  of  sledge-hammer  reasoning  that  com- 
pletely knocks  prejudice  off  the  mental  horizon  and  sup- 
plants indifference  with  interest,  conviction  and  desire. 

It  is  the  kind  of  "stuff"  that  makes  us  involuntarily 
say  to  ourselves,  "that  seems  reasonable,"  "that's  so," 
after  reading  each  claim  or  statement. 


86  BUSINESS-GETTING  LETTERS 

It  is  argument,  argument  that  makes  the  point  clear, 
plausible,  pertinent  and  decisive. 

Generating  the  Motive  Force  That  Gives  Impetus  to  a 
Selling  Proposition 

Now,  the  chief  ingredient  in  this  kind  of  argument 
is  earnestness.  This  is  the  spice  that  puts  snap,  con- 
viction and  selling  power  into  a  fact  or  statement;  the 
tone  that  makes  it  seem  real,  transparent  and  acceptable. 

Flippancy,  on  the  other  hand,  has  precisely  the  op- 
posite tendency.  It  is  a  dilutant,  not  a  spice.  It  takes 
the  impressiveness  and  pungency  away  from  a  selling 
point  instead  of  emphasizing  and  strengthening  it. 

And  this  is  as  logical  as  it  is  true.  There  is  little 
humor  in  signing  orders  and  writing  checks;  buying  is 
by  all  odds  the  most  serious  phase  of  business,  because 
it  means  paying  out  instead  of  taking  in. 

You  and  I  built  up  that  balance  in  the  bank  by 
downright  desk-slaving  and  blood-sweating.  To  be 
solicited  to  hand  some  of  it  out,  doesn't  place  one  in  the 
state  for  appreciating  Joe  Millerisms. 

For  the  man  who  buys  is  generally  as  serious  as  his 
work ;  there  is  no  channel  between  his  think-box  and  his 
funny-bone.  If  you  want  to  actually  reach  and  sway 
his  mind  you  must  take  him  at  his  mood;  you  must 
reason  with  him  as  seriously  as  he  reasons  with  himself. 

You  must  show  him  in  good  old-fashioned  George 
Washington  figures  just  where  every  dollar  of  coin  he 
pays  out  will  bring  back  a  dollar's  worth  of  solid  value , 
with  a  few  cents  extra  for  the  honor  he  does  us. 

But  seriousness  alone  doesn't  produce  orders.  Nor 
does  the  fact  that  your  letter  contains  sound  arguments 
mean  that  it  will  sell  goods. 


CREATING  DESIEE  TO  BUY  8? 

The  fact  that  Knox  $5  hats  are  worn  by  the  crowned 
heads  of  Europe  may  be  a  perfectly  sound  argument  as 
to  the  merit  and  style  of  this  brand.  But  if  I  am 
firmly  convinced  that  I  cannot  afford  to  pay  more  than 
$3  for  a  hat,  all  the  "style"  and  "popularity"  argu- 
ments conceivable  won't  make  me  pay  the  extra  $2. 

Again,  the  fact  that  "Bon  Ami  cleans  floors  and  ceil- 
ings and  is  used  by  the  leading  American  hotels"  may 
be  indisputable  proof  of  its  house-cleaning  properties, 
but  if  I  want  a  soap  that  will  remove  a  grease  spot  from 
my  Sunday  trousers,  this  isn't  the  reasoning  that  will 
make  me  buy. 

Winning  Trade  With  Purse-Reaching  Arguments  — 
Showing  the  Buyer  the  Proofs 

The  argument  that  really  sells  goods  is  the  argument 
that  is  based  specifically  upon  the  needs  of  the  man  you 
are  addressing;  the  argument  that  answers  the  objec- 
tions to  your  product  that  exist  in  his  mind ;  the  argu- 
ment that  offers  a  satisfactory  supply  for  some  demand 
he  desires  to  fill. 

If  I  believe  that  a  $5  hat  is  too  extravagant  for  my 
pocketbook,  it  is  verily  up  to  the  advertiser  to  prove  my 
idea  of  economy  false ;  to  puncture  a  hole  in  my  views  of 
thrift  by  showing  that  the  "best  pays  in  the  end." 
Prove  that  a  $5  Knox  will  outwear  several  $3  hats  and 
I'll  go  $2  above  my  usual  limit.  Your  argument  is  then 
aimed  at  the  right  target;  and  it  will  demolish  the  one 
obstacle  between  you  and  a  sale. 

In  other  words,  the  man  who  writes  a  successful  form 
letter  must  know  a  great  deal  more  than  his  own  factory 
and  workshop  can  teach  him.  He  must  know  every 
customer's  mental  attitude,  every  customer's  tastes* 


'88  BUSINESS-GETTING  LETTERS 

needs  and  tendencies.  He  must  be  able  to  look  into  the 
mind  of  the  buyer  and  make  his  argument  conform  to 
the  attitude  he  finds  there. 

He  must  be  earnest  first  of  all;  otherwise  his  claims, 
no  matter  what  their  nature,  will  not  be  seriously  con- 
sidered at  all.  He  must  be  specific  and  direcli  on  top  of 
that,  so  that,  when  his  claims  are  considered  they  will 
appeal  and  convince. 

Our  recipe  for  composing  the  argument  of  a  form 
letter  according  to  these  principles,  is  short  in  words, 
but  sweet  in  results.  Here  it  is: 

Take  several  large  sheets  of  copy  paper — a  ream  or 
so  will  do — and  before  you  write  one  word  in  favor  of 
your  goods — before  you  advance  one  boost  about  your- 
self, I  Say —  THINK  OF  THE  OTHER  FELLOW  *S  VIEWS. 

Climb  over  to  the  other  side  of  the  fence,  and  look 
at  your  proposition  through  his  eyes. 

Get  down  into  tangible  form,  not  every  feature  of 
your  product,  but  every  objection  to  it,  not  every  ad- 
vantage it  offers,  but  every  disadvantage,  every  adverse 
point  that  might  keep  the  buyer  from  purchasing. 

Think,  also,  of  every  objection  he  could  make  to 
your  letter;  every  factor  that  might  make  him  indiffer- 
ent to  a  written  appeal  or  calloused  to  correspondence 
salesmanship. 

Then  throw  on  the  power  switch  in  your  mental 
thought  factory.  Think  up  graphic  answers  to  the  ob- 
jections you  have  dug  up.  Paint  your  goods  so  as  to 
dispel  every  doubt.  State  the  facts  so  as  to  shake  the 
bottom  out  of  every  fancied  disadvantage.  Then  when 
this  is  done,  and  you  have  in  your  mind  or  on  paper, 
a  clear  idea  of  what  your  customer  wants,  and  why  y*ou 
can  give  it  to  him,  turn  on  your  currents  of  ginger, 


CHEATING  DESIRE  TO  BUY  89 

enthusiasm  and  sincerity.  And  inject  enough  powder 
and  snap  into  your  arguments  and  facts  to  blow  indif- 
ference and  hesitancy  higher  than  Togo  did  the  Rus- 
sian navy. 

Two  weeks  later  they  may  have  to  put  an  extra  post- 
man along  your  route.  Exit  your  fond  conviction  that 
to  most  people  (not  you),  buncombe  and  sense  taste 
alike. 


Order 

WHAT  comfort,  what  strength,  what 
economy  there  is  in  order — 
material  order,  intellectual  order,  moral 
order. 

To  know  where  you  are  going  and 
what  you  wish — this  is  order.  To  keep 
your  word  and  your  engagements;  to 
have  things  ready  under  your  hand,  to 
hold  your  means  and  forces  at  a  "ready'* 
— all  these  are  simply  order. 

To  discipline  your  habits,  your  efforts, 
your  wishes;  to  organize  your  life,  to 
distribute  your  time,  to  take  the  meas- 
ure of  your  duties;  to  employ  your  cap- 
ital and  resources,  your  talent  and  your 
chances — to  do  all  this  with  profit  is  to 
know  the  meaning  of  the  word  ORDER. 

Order  means  light  and  peace,  inward 
liberty  and  outward  command;  order 
is  power. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
The  Climax  That  Brings  Orders 

IT  is  a  great  art  to  know  when  and  how  to  stop. 
There's  the  salesman,  for  instance,  who  talks  yon 
almost  into  an  order,  and  then  keeps  right  on  talking 
until  he  talks  you  out  of  it  again. 

He  does  not  know  how  to  climax  his  talk.  He  can  con- 
vince, perhaps,  he  can  argue,  appeal,  sway  and  interest. 
But  having  so  influenced  your  mind  he  cannot  turn 
the  effect  produced  into  actual  business. 

The  climax  in  all  action  is  the  decisive  and  moment- 
ous stroke.  It  is  the  pugilist's  knockout  blow,  the  au- 
thor's thrilling  chapter;  the  playright's  supreme  finala 
to  which  all  preceding  action  has  been  supplementary 
and  incidental. 

Yet  few  letter  writers  even  know  that  there  is  snch 
an  element  in  a  good  letter  as  an  effective  climax.  The 
salesman  learns  from  the  very  beginning,  from  the 
first  contact  with  the  man  who  buys,  that  the  most  im- 
portant and  decisive  part  of  his  plea  is  his  "final  argu- 
ment"— the  so-called  "closing  talk."  Yet  most  business 
letters  are  abruptly  broken  off  at  the  end  of  any  com- 
monplace sentence  or  paragraph  without  the  least  at- 
tempt at  dramatic  or  forceful  finale. 


THE    OEDEE-GETTING    CLIMAX  91 

And  then  they  are  wound  up  with  some  moss-covered 
and  meaningless  phrase  like  "Trusting  to  hear  from  you 
further,"  or  "Thanking  you  for  the  favors  of  the  past, 
we  are,"  etc.,  ad  infinitum. 

Strong  Beginnings  That  Ravel  Out  at  the  End — Ap- 
peals That  Fail 

You  commonly  receive  letters  like  this — letters  that 
may  even  possess  strength  and  power  in  their  argument 
and  body  matter — and  yet  in  the  end  fail  to  move  you 
to  action.  They  attract  the  attention,  create  a  desire 
for  the  goods,  but  somehow  you  feel  that  you  might 
as  well  wait  a  day  or  so,  until  collections  are  better  or 
business  picks  up.  And  next  day  you  give  the  order 
to  the  letter  writer's  competitor  who  happens  along  at 
just  the  right  time,  with  just  the  right  appeal. 

Such  a  letter  lacks  a  strong,  compelling  climax — 
lacks  some  inducement  or  clinching  argument  that  makes 
you  see  the  imperative  need  of  getting  in  an  order  at 
once— Now,  TODAY. 

There  are  two  parts  to  the  successful  climax.  The 
first — generally  the  next  to  the  last  paragraph — is  the 
paragraph  that  summarizes  the  significance  of  all  the 
preceding  arguments  and  drives  home  forcefully  and 
vividly  both  the  benefits  of  following  these  arguments 
and  the  ill  results  of  ignoring  them. 

It  is  the  paragraph  that  itemizes  and  elaborates  all 
that  you  get  for  your  money,  and  minimizes  and  be- 
littles the  trifle  you  have  to  pay,  until  the  price  seems 
infinitesimal  compared  with  the  bargain  you  get  in  re- 
turn for  it. 

It  is  the  paragraph  that  says  to  you,  "Think  what 
you  are  offered.  All  of  this  and  this  and  this — and 


92  BUSINESS-GETTING  LETTERS 

yet  for  the  insignificant  sum  of  $ — .  And  when  all 
these  articles  mean  so  much  to  your  business  and  your 
profits — when,  in  addition,  you  take  not  a  penny's  risk 
and  can  secure  a  full  refund  of  your  money  if  you  are 
dissatisfied — why  hesitate  even  one  single  tick  of  the 
clock?" 

And  then  you  act. 

But  after  you  finish  this  final  plea — this  plea  that 
makes  the  value  offered  appear  so  great  and  the  cost 
so  small — now  how  to  get  the  prospect  to  act. 

When  a  customer's  interest  is  at  the  boiling  point, 
it  is  the  pyschological  moment  for  impelling  him  to  s 
decision.  Procrastination  is  the  thief  of  mail  order 
profits.  It  leads  to  reflection,  and  reflection  to  indecis- 
ion, and  indecision  to  postponement.  You  can  undo 
the  good  effect  of  an  entire  follow-up  witb  one  poor 
ending. 

The  principle  in  this  last  element  of  climax  is  simple 
enough,  but  vital.  It  is  merely  this:  Give  the  reader 
some  proposition,  some  object,  some  argument  that  will 
make  him  see  that  an  order  today  is  worth  more  than 
an  order  tomorrow. 

Showing  Buyers  That  Delays  Are  Robbers,  Beady  to 
Tap  the  Money  Drawer 

It  may  be  a  cash  discount;  it  may  be  a  premium; 
it  may  be  a  special  offer  about  to  be  withdrawn.  Then 
again,  it  need  not  require  any  mercenary  requirement 
on  your  part  at  all,  but  simply  an  argument  that  shows 
the  customer  the  hardship  he  must  withstand  or  the 
profit  he  will  lose  every  day  he  is  without  the  article 
advertised.  Whatever  it  is,  make  it  real — not  a  mere 
peek-a-boo  for  your  profits. 


THE  ORDER-GETTING  CLIMAX  93 

A  splendid  climax,  requiring  no  discount  or  premium 
can  always  be  made  by  a  letter  that  advertises  a  money, 
time  or  labor-saving1  article. 

For  instance,  the  National  Cash  Register  Company 
says  to  the  merchant: 

"A  thing  that  will  save  you  money  tomorrow  will  save 
you  money  today.  And  the  sooner  you  get  it 
the  more  money  it  will  save.  Delays  pay  no  divide  ids — 
Act  now!"  and  the  retailer  does  act. 

In  other  words,  the  object  of  a  good  climax  is  to  in- 
duce the  customer  to  get  in  motion  and  place  the  order 
in  the  first  out-going  mail.  It  is  the  procrastination- 
killer  of  the  mail  order  business,  the  order  stimulator 
that  quickens  the  flow  of  sales  and  profits  towards 
your  cash  drawer  and  bank  balance. 

The  sooner  you  use  it,  the  more  money  it  will  make 
for  you, 

The  Mill  of  Ideas 

YOUR  services  are  valued  according 
to  the  worth  of  your  ideas.  Your 
ideas  are  the  result  of  your  thinking. 

"Ideas  just  come  to  me,"  is  a  com- 
mon fallacy.  They  may  seem  to  come 
in  an  instant;  but  they  are  the  result  of 
hours  of  thought.  Nature's  rule  is  im- 
perative— no  thought,  no  ideas. 

If  you  want  system  in  your  business, 
think.  System  is  the  framework  on 
which  your  business  is  built.  It  is  the 
sole  means  of  getting  the  greatest  re- 
sults with  the  least  waste.  THINK. 


CHAPTER  XV 
The  Automatic  Correspondent 

SOME  men  can  totally  disguise  their  real  feel- 
ings and  emotions,  both  in  correspondence  and 
in  speech.  There  is  the  actor  who  can  conceal  a  heart 
of  sorrow  under  a  coat  of  mirth,  and  the  artist  to 
whom  the  changing  of  a  manner  or  a  mood  is  as  much 
a  matter  of  ease  as  the  changing  of  his  hat  or  his  over- 
coat. 

But  such  men  are  few  and  far  between  in  the  busi- 
ness world.  Generally,  like  barometers,  our  letters  and  also 
our  speech  take  at  least  a  part  of  the  tone  and  tenor 
of  our  inside  feelings. 

When  we  feel  right,  we  write  right.  We  put  into  out 
letters  the  cheery  optimism  we  hold  in  our  mind.  We 
are  courteous,  considerate,  tactful,  suave. 

If  a  customer  asks  of  us  an  unreasonable  concession, 
we  do  not  tell  him  so  point-blank,  we  put  the  pellet  of 
fact  in  the  sugar  of  tact.  We  inform  him  firmly  "No  I" 
but  we  inform  him  pleasantly,  slighting  none  of  the 
little  kid  glove  courtesies  that  give  a  warm,  velvet,  cor* 
dial  touch,  even  to  the  letter  of  rejection. 

Bm  we  do  not  always  feel  right.  When  we  are  tired 
and  iscouraged,  when  things  have  not  gone  entirely 


THE  AUTOMATIC  CORRESPONDENT   95 

to  our  liking;  when  aggravation  after  aggravation  has 
pricked  our  mind  and  goaded  our  temper  to  the  end  of 
endurance,  it  is  hard  indeed  to  still  use  the  kid  glove 
customs,  the  gentle  word,  the  kindly  manner,  the  cordial 
style.  We  are  sour  inside,  we  have  the  "vinegar 
brain."  How  can  we  still  write  in  the  molasses  veinf 
That  is  why  it  is  an  extremely  difficult  problem  to  set 
a  certain  high  standard  for  our  correspondence,  and  to 
keep  every  letter  keyed  up  to  this  standard.  Our 
letters  will  vary  with  our  moods  and  change  with  our 
fortunes,  as  surely  as  the  weather  does  with  the  seasons. 
And  in  a  house  where  there  are  numbers  of  correspon- 
dents, each  of  different  temperament,  all  perhaps  feel- 
ing a  shade  different,  is  it  any  wonder  that  we  seldom 
find  a  large  concern  whose  correspondence  is  evenly 
good,  day  in  and  day  out. 

Tapping  the  Keg  of  Great  Thoughts  and  Good  Will  for 
the  Trade 

Now  then,  suppose  we  had  always  on  tap,  for  use  in 
fair  weather  and  foul,  in  good  times  and  in  bad,  the 
best  things  that  have  ever  been  written  or  said  about 
the  affairs  of  our  business,  the  best  paragraphs  on  our 
policy,  our  terms,  our  credit,  our  methods,  our  integrity, 
our  goods,  each  and  every  paragraph  a  masterpiece, 
written  when  we  were  in  the  very  acme  of  good  nature. 

And  suppose,  furthermore,  that  all  this  matter  had 
been  classified  by  a  wonderfully  convenient  and  minute 
classification  system;  with  a  paragraph  on  each  busi- 
ness subject,  so  arranged  that  we  could  get  it  instantly. 

Could  you  put  down  in  three  figures  or  four,  a  sum 
that  would  adequately  represent  the  value  of  such  a 
iystem  to  yout 


96  BUSINESS-GETTING  LETTERS 

Yet  this  system  is  yours  for  the  mere  reading  of  this 
chapter.  It  is  at  your  hand  now. 

In  every  business  house  there  are  a  certain  number 
of  business  questions  that  are  asked  over  and  over  again, 
a  number  of  times  a  day.  There  are  certain  classes  of 
inquiries  that  require  the  same  kind  of  handling ;  there 
are  certain  classes  of  slow-pay  customers  who  have  to 
be  written  to  in  about  the  same  vein.  There  are  a 
hundred  letters  we  send  out  each  day  that  could  all 
start  just  alike;  and  many  of  them  give  the  same  in- 
formation throughout.  Compare  your  letters  and  note 
how  nearly  identical  they  run.  Why  take  separate  time 
for  each?  Why  not  choose  the  best  and  make  each  ITt 

The  great  trouble  with  most  "paragraph  letters," 
however,  is  that  they  are  "dead-give-aways;"  they 
seem  machine-made  instead  of  human-dictated.  When 
the  author  of  them  sat  down  to  put  into  permanent 
form  the  thoughts  of  everyday  dictation,  he  lost  his 
natural,  easy,  personal  tone,  and  straightway  became 
formal,  stilted  and  "stereotyped."  But  this  can  be 
overcome  by  the  method  of  formation  as  described  in 
a  succeeding  paragraph. 

It  is  not  practical  to  get  up  form  letters  to  answer 
our  entire  correspondence,  for  we  soon  find  that  no  one 
form  letter  can  be  general  and  all  embracing  enough 
to  answer  any  large  number  of  letters.  Each  man  will 
ask  some  special  question  not  covered  by  the  form, 
and  if  it  is  a  printed  form,  it  is  very  hard  to  add  the 
additional  information. 

But  if  we  had  a  complete  set  of  paragraphs  to 
answer  every  business  question  asked  us  in  our  mail, 
it  would  be  an  easy  matter  to  pick  out  the  different 
paragraphs  needed  to  convey  to  each  correspondent  the 


THE  AUTOMATIC  CORRESPONDENT   97 

desired  information,  then  fit  them  together  judiciously 
and  discriminately,  into  a  perfect  letter. 

Making  Tour  Paragraph  System  Personal — Limiting  Its 
Scope  and  Defining  Its  Character 

Our  first  step  in  compiling  our  paragraph  book  (Form 
XIII)  should  be  to  determine  exactly  what  paragraphs 
are  needed.  No  man  can  do  this  by  running  over  in 
his  mind  the  kinds  of  questions  that  are  .  asked  him 
frequently,  because  the  fact  of  the  matter  is,  no  man 
really  realizes  how  much  material  he  does  constantly 
dictate  over  and  over  again.  When  the  writer  started 
to  put  in  his  paragraph  system,  he  was  skeptical  as  to 
whether  it  was  really  worth  while  to  bother  with  it. 
He  thought  that  most  of  his  letters  were  "unusual 
letters"  and  required  special  dictation.  But  when  he 
finally  dissected  and  analyzed  his  correspondence,  he 
found  that  there  was  scarcely  a  single  question  or  point 
brought  up  in  any  letter  that  had  not  been  brought  up 
a  number  of  times  before.  And  today,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  his  personal  and  important  letters,  his  en- 
tire correspondence,  averaging  225  letters  a  day,  is 
answered  wholly  with  form  paragraphs. 

The  way  to  find  out  what  paragraphs  are  needed  is 
to  have  an  extra  carbon  copy  made  of  every  letter 
answered  for  about  two  weeks.  That  should  give  you 
at  least  one  sample  of  nearly  every  sort  of  letter  received 
in  the  general  run  of  correspondence. 

It  is  well  to  set  aside  a  good  half  day  to  go  through 
these  carbons.  First  classify  them  as  to  their  general 
character,  putting  all  inquiry  letters  together,  all  com- 
plaint letters  together,  all  general  letters,  etc.  Now 
further  classify  under  "Sales  Correspondence,"  "Wants 


98 


BUSINESS-GETTING  LETTERS 


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till"! 
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THE  AUTOMATIC  CORRESPONDENT   99 

to  Know  Price,"  "Asks  About  Terms,"  "Do  We  Pre- 
pay Shipment,"  "Do  We  Take  Back  Unsatisfactory 
Goods,"  etc.  Now  cut  up  your  letters  into  paragraphs, 
and  put  all  paragraphs  of  one  kind  into  one  pile. 
By  looking  through  these  piles  of  paragraphs,  it  will 
be  easy  to  see  what  paragraphs  are  dictated  often 
enough  to  deserve  a  regular  form  paragraph.  When 
you  have  gotten  together  a  complete  list  of  the  form 
paragraphs  needed,  you  can  then  pick  out  from  the 
paragraphs  in  the  piles,  the  best  one  to  answer  each 
given  question,  polish  it  up  and  bring  it  up  to  the 
"masterpiece"  standard. 

Gridiron  Signals  That  Win  Points  in  the  Game  of 
Business 

Perhaps  you  have  gone  into  an  office  during  dictation 
hours  and  have  heard  a  correspondent  reading  off  num- 
bers to  his  stenographer  as  though  he  were  a  football 
quarter-back  giving  his  signals.  He  picks  up  a  letter 
and  says,  "twenty-eight,  thirty-two,  forty,"  and  then 
passes  on  to  the  next  letter. 

This  correspondent  is  simply  using  the  paragraph 
system.  For  when  our  paragraphs  are  completed,  they 
are  put  into  a  book  and  numbered,  so  that  in  specify- 
ing the  paragraphs  needed  to  answer  a  letter,  we  simply 
give  our  stenographer  the  numbers  of  them. 

Secure  a  large  scrap  book  with  heavy  manila  pages, 
and  wide,  blank  indexes.  Or  better  still,  get  a  book 
with  no  indexes  and  cut  the  indexes  for  yourself,  with  a 
pen-knife,  so  that  they  will  look  like  the  indexes  shown 
in  Form  XIII. 

Place  on  the  first  page — page  one — the  word  "starts" 
and  write  this  plainly  on  the  index,  as  shown  in  the  cut 


100  BUSINESS-GETTING  LETTERS 

This  page  should  contain  all  the  good  "beginnings" 
we  have  ever  composed  for  starting  off  a  letter,  from 
the  commonest  "replying  to  yours  of  the  tenth"  to  the 
most  elaborate  and  original  introductions. 

Paste  these  paragraphs  down  on  the  first  page  num- 
bering them  1-1,  1-2,  1-3,  the  first  figure  denoting  the 
page  and  the  second  the  number  of  the  paragraph. 

Take  the  second  page  and  label  it  with  the  name  ol 
another  class  of  paragraphs  such  as  "generalities'"  past- 
ing in  all  paragraphs  on  general  facts  about  your  goods. 

Now  go  through  the  balance  of  the  book,  labeling 
each  page  with  the  name  of  a  class  of  paragraphs,  such 
as  "terms,"  "prices,"  "don't  like  quality,"  "kicks  on 
conditions,"  "wants  special  concessions,"  "is  buying  of 
competitor"  "buys  cheaper  elsewhere,"  and  all  the 
other  classifications  suggested  by  your  work. 

As  you  paste  a  paragraph  on  a  given  page,  be  sure 
to  number  it  both  according  to  its  location  on  the  page, 
and  the  number  of  the  page  itself.  The  third  paragraph 
on  page  eight,  for  example,  should  be  numbered  8-3. 
Thus  when  you  name  this  paragraph  to  your  stenograph- 
er, she  can  turn  to  the  paragraph  at  once. 

In  dictating,  keep  the  paragraph  book  open  before  yon 
on  your  desk.  When  you  want  to  find  a  paragraph  on 
the  subject  of  say,  "wants  longer  credit,"  just  run  your 
eye  down  the  index  and  you  can  spot  in  a  second  or 
two  the  proper  page.  Turn  to  this  page  and  select  the 
desired  paragraph. 

Growing  Familiar  With  the  Form  Book — System  Owes 
Quantity  and  Quality 

As  yon  continue  to  use  the  paragraph  book,  both  yon 
and  your  stenographer  will  become  thoroughly  familiar 


THE  AUTOMATIC  CORRESPONDENT      101 

with  all  the  paragraphs,  and  you  can  name  off  the  num- 
bers of  the  paragraphs  needed  to  answer  a  given  letter 
instantly,  without  referring  to  the  book  at  all. 

The  results,  both  in  quantity  and  quality  of  work, 
that  a  good  paragraph  system  will  accomplish  in  a  cor- 
respondence department  are  almost  beyond  belief.  With 
its  use  even  the  dullest  correspondent  can  be  made  to 
produce  letters  that  rank  in  brilliance  and  tone  with 
those  of  the  star  advertising  writer.  Moreover,  there  is 
no  varying  of  your  correspondence  with  your  moods. 
You  can  growl  out  the  numbers  of  the  paragraphs  or 
laugh  them  out,  but  the  customers  will  still  get  the 
same  paragraphs.  You  may  feel  dull  or  bright,  slug- 
gish or  alert,  it  matters  not  to  your  correspondence,  for 
you  answer  it  with  paragraphs  that  are  always  the  same, 
always  your  best,  always  the  strongest  argument,  or  the 
smoothest  diplomacy  that  could  be  composed  through 
hours  of  previous  thought  and  study  to  handle  the  case 
in  point. 

From  the  standpoint  of  time  and  labor-saving  features 
it  does  not  need  much  explanation  to  show  that  the 
paragraph  system  will  provide  innumerable  advantages 
for  both  correspondent  and  stenographer.  One  man 
with  the  paragraph  system  and  three  stenographers, 
has  been  known  to  handle  more  work  than  three  men 
and  four  stenographers  working  on  the  same  class  of 
correspondence  without  "the  automatic  correspondent" 
to  aid  them. 

It  means  cheaper  salaries,  for  ordinary  typists  in- 
stead of  stenographers  can  just  as  easily  handle  the  para- 
graph system.  It  means  better  and  neater  typewritten 
work,  for  the  copy  is  made  from  clear  typewritten  copy 
instead  of  from  uncertain  notes.  And  it  means  mow 


108  BUSINESS-GETTING  LETTERS 

leisure  for  the  correspondent  himself — often  total  free- 
dom from  the  monotonous  drudgery  of  dictation. 

Repetition,  the  Locust  Swarm  That  Kills  Budding  Ideas, 
That  Blights  Intellects 

Repetition — repetition— repetition !  It  dulls  minds 
and  it  blights  intellects  — it  is  monotony  incarnate.  The 
only  thing  that  interests  the  human  mind  is  the  thing 
that  moves  and  changes.  The  paragraph  system  will 
eliminate  the  most  tiresome  kind  of  repetition  work  in 
business — the  incessant  repeating  of  the  same  facts  and 
paragraphs  over  and  over,  ad  infinitum. 


The   Mind's  Eye 

IMAGINATION  is  the  eye  of  the 
*  mind,  the  power  that  calls  up  pic- 
tures of  things  not  yet  present,  ideas 
not  yet  realized,  perfection  not  yet  at- 
tained. Imagination  precedes  and  is 
the  cause  of  all  achievement.  The 
sculptor  sees  his  finished  statue  in  the 
block  of  marble  before  he  sets  a  chisel 
to  the  stone.  The  painter's  completed 
picture  glows  in  his  mind  before  he  lifts 
a  brush. 

So  with  all  human  achievement. 
First  the  picture  in  the  mind — then  the 
realization.  Get  clearly  before  your 
mental  eye  the  business  organization 
you  want  to  build.  Then  rear  it  by 
that  plan. 


Part  V 


SHORT  CUTS  THAT  WILL 
SAVE  TIME 

Use  the  Minutes 

all  have  the  same  sixty  minutes, 
the  same  twenty-four  hours,  to 
work  with;  and  the  man  who  achieves 
the  greatest  success  is  the  man  who  knows 
how  to  work  with  this  period  best — how  to 
get  the  most  out  of  it.  Time-economizing 
is  more  important  than  money-economiz- 
ing, tor  the  right  use  of  time  is  the  price  of 
every  earthly  accomplishment  and  reward. 

To  the  scientist,  time  is  literally  the  meas- 
ure of  achievement.  His  treasury  of 
years  has  a  limit;  his  work,  unfinished, 
will  pass  on  to  another,  who  will  receive 
the  reward. 

To  the  business  man,  time  is  capital.  He 
can  borrow  a  million  in  money — he  can- 
not borrow,  beg,  steal  or  create  a  minute. 

Money,  art,  comfort,  inventions  that  save 
hours  for  thousands,  discoveries  that 
lengthen  lives  by  decades — all  depend 
upon  time.  Use  the  Minutes. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
Making  the  Most  of  Minutes 

TALK  about  the  extravagance  of  the  inebriated  sailor ! 
If  the  newly  landed,  newly  paid  middy  tossed 
about  his  earnings,  as  the  average  office  man  does  his 
time,  his  wages  wouldn  't  last  him  through  the  first  half- 
block  after  getting  into  port. 

The  commonest  spendthrift  in  business  is  the  spend- 
thrift of  time ;  the  man  to  whom  each  day  is  i  period  to 
get  through  with,  somehow,  some  way,  with  the  least  pos- 
sible amount  of  bothersome  thought  and  effort. 

Every  office  has  its  retinue  of  these  time-killers ;  com- 
petent men  who  let  their  competence  go  for  nought  be- 
cause they  do  not  utilize  it  through  every  working  hour. 
You  see  them  in  the  president's  chair  and  you  see  them 
in  the  workshop;  energy-profligates,  who  have  formu- 
lated deep-seated,  unconquerable  habits  of  ease,  of  com- 
placency, of  self  satisfaction,  of  laziness  and  inertia,  of 
doing  short  things  by  the  long  way,  until  the  flight  of 
time  to  them,  is  as  much  a  matter  of  unconcern  as  the 
flight  of  the  "Twentieth  Century  Limited"  is  to  the 
passing  telegraph  poles. 

This  chapter  isn't  meant  for  this  sort  of  time-waster 
— the  man  who  deliberately  squanders  time,  does  not 


USING   THE   MINUTES  105 

spend  it  in  studying  ways  for  improving  its  use.  But 
it  is  for  the  more  common  class  of  time-users  — foi  yon 
and  me,  and  even  the  most  systematic  of  us  who  are,  per- 
haps, unknowing  and  unwitting  losers  of  golden  minutes. 

Moiling  Down  th*  Day's  Time — Watching  Golden 
Minutes  Slip  By 

All  of  us,  from  the  general  manager  down,  are  time- 
wasters  in  some  form  or  other.  We  waste  time  in  getting 
down  to  work,  and  we  waste  time  in  getting  back  from 
it.  We  waste  time  in  doing  things,  and  we  waste  still 
more  in  talking  about  them.  We  waste  time  in  wony« 
ing  about  the  things  we  have  done,  and  more  often  still, 
in  worrying  about  the  things  we  haven't  done.  From 
morning  until  night,  from  office  head  to  office  boy,  we  are 
occasional  time-burners — wasting  time  in  talking  and 
thinking,  in  getting  out  of  bed,  and  in  getting  back 
again. 

The  fact  of  the  matter  is,  we  are  human,  and  we  can- 
not work  through  any  day  without  some  exhibition  of 
the  frailties  of  humanness.  When  we  have  accomplished 
things,  we  must  call  in  the  world  or  our  private  secre- 
tary to  preen  and  boast  about  them.  When  we  have 
failed  in  these  same  things,  we  must  sulk  and  brood, 
until  we  have  caught  our  second  wind  and  are  ready  to 
try  again.  And  more  than  all  else,  we  must  talk.  For 
we  are  a  talking  race;  and  most  of  the  talkers  are  in 
business. 

The  common  consumers  of  time,  however,  are  the  leaks 
we  do  not  realize,  the  weaknesses  that  are  unconscious, 
the  little  errors  in  thought  and  in  action  that  eat  into 
our  energy  and  tax  our  results  almost  without  our 
knowledge. 


106 

Nearly  every  office  has  a  number  of  these  unconscious 
time-losing  weaknesses. 

The  time  wasted  by  working  with  the  right  hand 
solely,  when  we  should  school  and  utilize  the  left;  by 
keeping  our  working  tools  in  inaccessible  and  awkward 
places  when  they  should  be  at  our  fingers'  ends;  by 
devoting  high  salaried  energy  to  low  salaried  work,  when 
we  should  hire  a  cheap  clerk  to  help  us  out;  these  are 
the  office  man's  unseen  leaks  that  eat  into  his  cost  of  ef- 
fort, just  as  surely  as  factory  wastes  do  into  manufac- 
turer's cost  of  production.  And  these  are  the  "insidious 
losses"  that  this  chapter  is  written  to  overcome. 

Hoarding  Time  and  Systematizing  the  Office  Hours — 
Producing  Efficiency 

The  right  hand  man  to  the  president  of  a  great  east- 
ern concern,  recently  said,  ' '  If  the  young  man  in  the  of- 
fice who  wants  to  grow  with  the  business,  and  grow  fast, 
will  start  today  to  systematize  his  time,  he  can  accom- 
plish more  in  the  next  month  than  he  could  in  a  year  of 
ordinary  experience." 

"Systematize  your  time;"  that  is  the  first  essential 
in  saving  time.  And  the  best  way  to  systematize  time 
is  to  take  an  inventory  of  it,  to  find  out  where  every 
minute  of  it  goes,  and  what  it  brings  back,  to  classify 
your  use  of  it  day  by  day  and  week  by  week,  and 
identify  the  uses  that  are  profitable  and  the  wastes  that 
are  not. 

Study  for  a  fortnight  the  number  of  minutes  lost  in 
each  working  day— by  needless  delays,  by  superfluous 
conversation,  by  meaningless  effort,  by  unnecessary  red 
tape.  Seek  out  the  cause  of  each  faulty  hour — and 
eliminate  it.  Discover  the  reason  for  each  purposeless 


USING  THE  MINUTES  107 

minute  — and  extinguish  it.  Watch  not  only  your  office 
conduct,  but  your  out-of -office  conduct  — watch  for  the 
outside  indiscretions  and  diversions  that  affect  your 
working  ability,  your  clearness  of  thought,  your  mental 
alertness. 

Many  men  lose  time  and  impair  effort  by  working 
overtime  and  sacrificing  rest.  Night  work  rarely  pays. 
The  man  who  gets  eight  solid  hours  of  sleep  is  likely 
to  do  twice  as  much  work  in  the  eight  hours  that  fol- 
low as  the  man  who  works  twelve  hours  and  sleeps  four. 

These  are  generalities  perhaps,  but  they  are  vital 
generalities,  and  necessary  generalities,  if  the  office  man 
is  determined  to  keep  account  of  and  utilize  every  sec- 
ond as  though  it  were  gold. 


Rest  While  You  Rest 

T^VON'T  take  your  business  anxieties 
••— *  to  bed  with  you.  When  you  lie 
down  to  rest,  let  your  business  rest  also. 
You  cannot  master  the  business  of  that 
day  which  follows  a  night  of  restless 
worry. 

Men  often  say  that  they  have  lost 
more  than  one  night's  sleep  over  some 
business  problem.  Yet  they  were  less 
able  to  handle  affairs  the  following  day 
than  they  would  have  been  after  a 
night  of  peaceful  sleep. 

Let  your  desk  system  be  your  mem- 
ory overnight;  leave  your  business 
worries  there;  don't  take  them  to  bed. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
Short  Cuts  That  Beat  the  Office  ClocK 

WHEN  the  office  man  has  mastered  the  generalities 
and  perfected  a  definite  "day's  work"  plan,  like 
that  worked  out  in  previous  chapters,  here  are  a  few 
short  cuts  and  suggestions  for  getting  'cross  lots  in  the 
day's  routine  and  saving  many  common  sources  of 
wasted  effort.  They  are  applicable  to  the  work  of  man- 
ager or  clerk.  Study  them,  and  use  them. 

DON'T  rely  on  your  "trusty  right  hand"  altogether. 
He  who  refuses  to  let  the  left  hand  know  what 
the  right  is  doing,  is  losing  a  mighty  valuable  aid.  The 
left  hand  should  be  schooled  to  do  the  work  of  the  right, 
to  sign  your  name,  to  make  out  tickler  slips,  to  O.  K. 
vouchers,  and  handle  things  about  the  desk  with  right- 
handed  facility,  accuracy  and  speed.  It  should  be  a 
right-hand  understudy,  and  then  if  that  member  should 
become  temporarily  injured  or  disabled,  your  work  can 
go  on  as  usual.  Furthermore,  and  for  obvious  reasons, 
the  man  who  can  work  both  hands  at  once,  is  usually  a 
much  faster  and  better  worker  than  the  one-handed  man. 

DON'T  go  through  the  tiresome,  needless  formality 
of  dictating  the  full  name  and  address  and  pedi- 
gree of  each  correspondent  whose  letter  you  answer. 

108 


BEATING   THE    OFFICE    CLOCK          109 

It  is  on  his  letter — your  stenographer  can  read  it  as 
well  as  you.  Number  each  letter,  and  dictate  simply  the 
number.  And  in  dictating — don't  forget  to  make  lib- 
eral use  of  the  paragraph  system  wherever  possible.  It 
saves  your  time  and  it  saves  your  stenographer's  time, 
and  insures  a  better  letter  to  your  correspondent  in  the 
bargain. 

DON'T  scatter  your  working  tools  through  a  dozen 
different  drawers  and  cupboards  about  the  office. 
Have  a  definite  place  for  each  class  of  tools  right  within 
your  own  desk,  within  arm's  reach — keep  them  there  and 
only  there.  This  little  plan  in  itself  will  eliminate  hours 
and  hours  of  lost  motion  and  wasted  effort  in  the  year's 
work. 

DON'T  mistake  activity  for  productivity,  and  mo- 
tion for  deeds.  It  is  easy  to  be  busy  doing  nothing, 
and  some  fast  workers  are  slow-achievers.  The  aim  of 
the  office  man  should  be  to  accomplish  every  task  with 
just  as  little  action  and  drain  on  his  faculties  as  pos- 
sible. The  man  who  has  to  move  his  chair  a  dozen  times 
In  an  hour  in  order  to  get  into  a  desk  drawer  for  needed 
material  may  be  an  energetic  worker  but  he  is  a  poor 
desk  manager  and  most  of  his  energy  is  liable  to  be 
used  in  profitless  action.  Let  him  arrange  his  working 
material  so  he  does  not  have  to  turn  his  desk  and  him- 
self upside  down  to  get  at  it. 

DON'T  jump  into  each  day's  work,  as  a  blind  man 
might  jump  in  the  dark,  with  no  definite  knowledge 
of  where  you  are  going  to  land  or  what  you  are  going  to 
do.  Have  your  work  planned  out  definitely  the  night 
before,  with  each  duty,  due  for  accomplishment,  item- 
ized, and  the  hour  stated  when  it  needs  attention.  Pol- 
low  a  definitely  laid-out  program  and  see  that  every  niin- 


110          SHORT  CUTS  THAT  SAVE  TIME 

ate  is  made  to  conform  to  that  program.    The  man  who 
does  things  as  they  turn  up,  is  constantly  turned  down. 

DON'T  waste  time  in  starting  and  in  quitting  work. 
The  first  half  hour  should  be  the  most  pro- 
ductive of  all  eight.  Use  it — and  use  it  from  the  minute 
you  land  at  the  desk.  Work — and  work  through  to  the 
closing  hour.  Don't  begin  ten  minutes  late  and  knock 
off  ten  minutes  early.  Make  the  first  and  the  last  hours 
of  the  day  the  most  prolific — the  rest  of  the  day  will 
take  care  of  itself. 

DON'T  ponder  and  hesitate  in  dictating.     Eapid 
speech  stimulates  thought.     Careful  deliberation 
over  each  word  diffuses  thought  and  breaks  continuity. 
Have  what  you  want  to  say  clearly  in  mind,  and  say  it 
— quickly,  vigorously,  plainly. 

DON'T  invite  visitors  to  the  office,  or  take  up  per- 
sonal matters  during  the  office  day.  It  not  only 
wastes  your  company's  time,  but  it  takes  your  mind  off 
your  work.  And  the  mind  is  like  a  locomotive, — once 
fully  started  and  on  a  smooth  track,  it  moves  ahead 
almost  of  its  own  momentum;  but  off  the  track,  it's 
hard  to  get  back  again.  In  business  hours,  keep  the 
mind  moving,  and  the  dollars  will  keep  coming. 


The  Little  Flaws 

YOU — and  your  competitor — have 
seen  the  big  leaks  at  the  desk,  in 
the  store,  about  the  factory.  They  are 
stopped.  The  advantage  lies  with  him 
who  first  caulks  the  little  seams.  Which 
one  of  you  shall  it  be  ? 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
Little  Schemes  for  Saving  Time 

WHY  that  diagonal  path  across  the  corner  lot! 
Because  it  is  nearer.  Short  cuts  are  the  order  of 
the  day;  they  are  the  secrets  of  industrial  success;  the 
origins  of  dividends.  That  the  shortest  distance  between 
two  points  is  a  straight  line,  any  youth  can  prove,  but 
many  men  have  failed  to  apply  it  to  their  business.  It 
Hoesn't  follow  that  a  man  is  lazy  because  he  takes  the 
diagonal  path — he  sees  a  short  cut  and  takes  it.  "Why 
tramp  around  two  sides  of  a  square  when  you  can  speed 
down  the  diagonal  ? 

Be  a  short-cut  convert,  but  don't  become  rabid.  Don't 
apply  the  rule  to  the  detriment  of  efficiency.  Here  are 
a  dozen  sane,  practical  cuts  that  are  saving  business 
men  money  seven  days  a  week.  Their  application  is  not 
copyrighted.  They  are  yours  for  the  taking. 

Tricks  with  Filing  Cards — Shorthand  That 
Reads    Itself 

It  is  frequently  necessary  to  keep  several  kinds  of 
records  in  one  card  tray.  To  distinguish  them  it  is  cus- 
tomary to  use  cards  of  different  colors.  A  more  simple 
way  is  to  mark  with  ink  the  tops  of  the  cards.  One  set 

in 


112          SHORT  CUTS  THAT  SAVE  TIME 

can  have  the  tops  marked  with  red  ink,  another  set  with 
black  ink,  another  can  have  red  or  black  dots  along  the 
top.  This  renders  each  set  quite  distinct.  This  is  par- 
ticularly useful  if  cards  have  to  be  transferred  from  one 
set  to  another,  for  then  no  fresh  card  need  be  made 
out — it  is  only  necessary  to  re-ink  the  tops. 

To  get  certain  information  from  the  cards  without 
taking  them  from  the  tray,  or  reading  what  is  written 
on  them,  notches  can  be  cut  in  their  top  edges.  When 
they  are  in  place,  rule  along  the  tops,  from  front  to  back 
lines  at  certain  intervals. 

Each  of  these  lines  produces  on  each  card  a  dot, 
so  that  each  card  has  on  it  a  number  of  dots  at  equal 
distances  apart.  Now  notches  can  be  cut  at  any  one  of 
these  dots  to  denote  a  certain  thing. 

For  instance,  supposing  the  cards  were  a  register  of 
insurance  policies,  on  which  the  premiums  are  paid  an- 
nually. Each  dot  can  represent  a  year,  and  as  soon  aa 
the  premium  is  paid  the  date  and  amount  are  entered  on 
the  card,  which  is  then  notched  for  that  year. 

As  soon  as  all  the  premiums  are  paid,  the  notches 
form  a  groove  along  the  top  of  the  cards,  from  back  to 
front  of  the  tray.  If  any  premiums  are  not  paid,  the 
fact  is  at  once  perfectly  obvious,  as  the  unnotched  cards 
show  up  plainly. 

Finishing  up  Your  Mail  at  a  Single  Reading — 
Using  the  Blue  Pencil 

Most  men  read  their  mail  twice — once  to  get  an  idea 
of  "what  it's  all  about,"  and  how  pressing  is  the  de- 
mand caused  by  it,  and  again,  deliberately,  to  attend  to 
the  demands  in  detail.  These  two  objects  may  be 
reached  by  one  reading. 


SCHEMES  FOR  SAVING  TIME  113 

Go  through  a  letter  with  a  blue  pencil  or  a  pen  dipped 
in  red  ink.  Underscore  the  significant  words  or  phrases 
that  indicate  matters  for  attention.  Write  a  word  of 
disposition  near  each  vital  phrase. 

When  you  dictate  your  replies  you  save  the  tune  other- 
wise spent  in  re-reading  in  detail  and  considering  the 
letter  before  you.  The  gist  of  the  correspondence  has 
already  been  noted, 

The  Universally  Perpetual,  Standing  Joke — 
Where's  the  Blotter? 

"Where's  that  blotter?" 

Out  of  sight  beneath  the  work  on  the  desk,  picked 
up  and  thrust  in  a  pigeon-hole  with  other  papers  by 
mistake,  or  on  the  floor  under  your  feet. 

To  avoid  this  inconvenience,  get  a  light  coiled  spring 
about  one-eighth  of  an  inch  in  diameter  and  a  foot  long. 
Make  a  small  loop  on  one  end  of  the  wire  and  attach  a 
little  spring  clasp  to  the  other.  Fasten  the  loop  with 
a  thumb-tack  to  the  top  of  the  pigeon-hole  case  of  your 
desk,  so  that  the  spring  hangs  down  just  in  front  of 
one  of  the  vertical  divisions.  Put  the  blotter  in  the 
clasp,  and  you  know  where  it  is.  In  this  way  it  is 
always  at  hand  and  in  the  same  place;  the  spring  al- 
lows the  use  of  the  blotter  anywhere  on  the  desk,  and 
when  you  have  used  it,  simply  release  it  and  it  re- 
turns to  place. 

A  Commonsense,  Home-made  Scheme  for  Classi* 
fying  Index  Cards  Rapidly 

In  the  circulation  department  of  a  publication,  in 
a  follow-up  system,  or  in  any  work  requiring  the  daily 
filing  of  many  cards,  a  great  saving  of  time  will  re- 


114          SHORT  CUTS  THAT  SAVE  TIME 

milt  from  classifying  these  cards  before  the  filing  is 
begun.  This  is  especially  true  when  the  file  is  large, 
filling  many  drawers.  Then  one  drawer  after  another 
of  the  card  catalogue  can  be  pulled  out,  and  the  cards 
going  into  this  drawer  filed  at  once. 

A  little  device  which  greatly  facilitates  this  process 
can  be  made  in  a  few  minutes.  Suppose  the  cards  to  be 
filed  measure  4x6  inches.  An  ordinary  sheet  of  straw- 
board,  28x40  inches,  is  marked  off  into  squares.  This 
will  give  each  necessary  letter  of  the  alphabet  a  space 
large  enough  to  allow  a  margin  of  an  inch  around  the 
cards.  A  bunch  of  cards  can  then  be  taken,  distributed 
alphabetically  in  the  proper  spaces,  and  quickly  filed  in 
the  card  cabinet.  For  complete  encyclopedic  indexing, 
the  "A"  cards,  for  instance,  may  be  further  arranged 
on  the  board  into  "AB,"  "AC,"  etc. 

Data  Always  in  Sight  but  Never  in  the  Way — A 
Second  Use  for  the  Arm  Rest 

Some  office  men  have  occasion  to  refer  often  to  a 
table  or  list  of  figures— cost  figures,  pattern  figures, 
prices  and  discounts,  or  other  data.  How  to  have 
this  information  always  in  sight,  yet  not  in  the  way 
has  long  been  an  enigma.  Some  business  men  paste 
these  sheets  on  cards  and  tack  them  to  a  wall;  some 
keep  them  loose  on  a  desk — a  scheme  that  involves  con- 
fusion when  the  sheets  are  needed  for  reference. 

To  obviate  this,  a  manager  in  one  office  took  out  the 
arm  rest  or  slide  on  one  side  of  his  desk,  reversed  it, 
and  had  a  small  plate  glass  cut  to  fit  in  the  space  that 
is  usually  there.  Under  the  glass  he  inserted  the  tables 
to  which  he  made  reference.  This  device  did  not  im- 
pair the  usefulness  of  the  arm  rest  or  slide  for  its 


SCHEMES  FOR   SAYING   TIME  115 

usual  work,  as  the  glass  was  as  good  to  work  upon  aa 
the  varnished  wood. 

Personal   Letters  Filed  in  Your  Desk — Vertical 
File  for  the  Year's  Letters 

Of  course  you  want  your  personal  correspondence 
at  your  right  hand — where  you  can  get  at  it — in  one 
file.  Use  the  vertical  file  system  and  apply  it  to  your 
deep  desk  drawer  or  to  a  convenient  vertical  file  case. 

A  folder  is  used  for  each  regular  correspondent,  and 
in  this  folder  is  filed  all  of  the  correspondence,  includ- 
ing the  carbon  copies  of  your  replies.  Then  when 
you  wish  to  refer  to  any  letter  you  have  all  the  corres- 
pondence before  you. 

These  folders  are  filed  on  edge  in  vertical  files  or 
in  the  deep  desk  drawer  and  may  be  arranged  alpha- 
betically or  numerically.  The  alphabetical  arrange- 
ment is  best  suited  for  a  small  volume  of  correspond- 
ence. 

In  many  cases  the  correspondence  is  of  such  a  na- 
ture that  it  will  be  more  often  referred  to  by  subject 
than  by  the  names  of  correspondents.  In  such  cases, 
the  correspondence  is  indexed  by  subjects.  A  guide 
card  is  used  for  each  general  subject  and  the  folders 
containing  correspondence  relating  to  that  general  sub- 
ject are  arranged  in  front  of  that  guide.  A  separate 
folder,  appropriately  labeled,  is  used  for  each  subhead 
of  the  subject.  A  card  system  is  used  for  each  indi- 
vidual and  on  this  are  noted  the  dates  of  letters  and 
the  subject  under  which  it  is  filed. 

One  drawer  of  a  vertical  file  furnishes  sufficient 
capacity  for  the  ordinary  personal  correspondence.  It 
has  a  capacity  equal  to  from  eight  to  ten  flat  sheet  files. 


116          SHORT  CUTS  THAT  SAVE  TIME 

The  advantage  is  that  you  have  all  of  the  corres- 
pondence for  a  long  period  in  one  place,  instead  of  scat- 
tered through  numerous  transfer  cases. 

A  Short  Cut  for  Clipping  Items — One  More 
Stenographic  Symbol 

To  mark  a  magazine  or  newspaper  article,  don't 
iumble  for  your  pencil  or  reach  for  your  pen.  Merely 
pinch  a  bit  of  paper  off  the  top  of  the  sheet  over  the 
column,  a  little  to  the  left.  This  so  effectively  marks 
the  paragraph  or  article  that  no  matter  where  the  paper 
or  magazine  may  be  tossed,  the  nipped  edge  will  be 
noticed  at  a  glance  and  often  valuable  time  will  be 
saved  in  looking  for  the  desired  information. 

The  short  cut  not  only  indicates  what  periodicals  are 
to  be  saved  for  reference,  but  instantly  locates  the 
page  and  even  the  column  of  the  desired  item. 

Keeping   Note    of  Verbal  Messages — A   Filing 
System  for  Telephone  Orders 

Telephone  messages  received  by  business  houses  are 
often  overlooked  because  no  record  is  kept  of  them; 
and  what  is  more,  if  the  message  delivered  over  the 
phone  is  attended  to,  no  record  is  kept  for  future  refer- 
ence and  complications  often  arise.  Telephone  orders, 
too,  are  the  most  prolific  source  of  complaint  and  trouble 
for  every  house. 

Realizing  this,  an  English  merchant  devised  a  system 
of  telephone  notes  which  absolutely  keeps  track  of  all 
messages  received  and  delivered  over  the  telephone  or 
all  business  done  by  the  verbal  method. 

Every  person  in  the  office  who  does  any  telephoning 
has  a  pad  of  the  telephone  note  slips  ( Form  XIV) .  When- 


SCHEMES  FOR  SAVING  TIME  117 

ever  he  receives  a  message,  he  puts  down  the  name  of 
the  person  from  whom  the  message  is  received,  the  time 
and  date,  and  his  own  name.  He  writes  in  brief  the 
contents  of  the  message  received  and  puts  his  reply  on 
the  reverse.  The  same  thing,  of  course,  is  done  when 
any  individual  in  the  office  calls  up  an  outsider  on 
business  of  the  company. 

These  slips  are  handled  the  same  as  correspondence, 
being  filed  in  the  letter  files  under  the  name  of  the 
outside  firm. 

This  system  prevents  the  neglect  of  matters  taken  up 
over  the  telephone  and  preserves  a  record  of  business 
done  through  that  medium. 

A   System  for  Handling  Telegrams — Extra 
Copies  for  Mailing  and  Filing 

Telegrams  are  usually  despatched  with  more  or  less 
haste.  There  is  not  always  time  to  send  the  message 
blank  to  be  copied  in  a  letter  book;  still  a  copy  should 
always  be  kept  of  every  telegram  sent.  Moreover,  the 
message  should  be  confirmed  by  mail,  and  to  get  the  true 
wording  of  the  message  as  given  to  the  telegraph  com- 
pany it  is  necessary  to  have  the  letter  book  before  you 
in  writing  or  dictating  your  letter  of  confirmation. 

A  triplicate  blank  system  for  handling  telegrams  to 
obviate  all  difficulties  enumerated  is  here  described.  It 
enables  one  to  write  the  message  on  a  telegram  blank, 
make  a  second  copy  for  the  office  record,  and  still  a  third 
copy  to  mail  the  correspondent  (which  in  many  cases 
saves  writing  a  letter) ;  all  three  copies  are  made  at  one 
writing  with  the  use  of  but  one  carbon  sheet. 

This  system  consists  of  a  series  of  three  sheets:  first 
a  message  sheet  printed  in  the  form  of  a  regular  tele- 


118      •    SHOET  CUTS  THAT  SAVE  TIME 


TELEPHONE  NOTE  SLIP 

.'MESSRS.. ! ..'.'.         

< ._ : ____RECElVEt> 

DATE i_  TlME-i 

\  . SENT 

CLERK 


REPtV  ON    REVERSE 


Form  XIV:    Both  economy  and  satisfaction  have  resulted  from  the  use  of  this 

blank  at  the  desk  phone  and  in  the  letter  file-    The  customer's 

phone  number  is  recorded  with  his  name. 

gram  blank;  the  second  and  middle  sheet,  the  record 
sheet;  the  third  and  lower  sheet,  the  confirmation  sheet. 

The  message  and  confirmation  sheets  should  be 
printed  on  telegraph  manila  and  have  binding  margin  at 
the  left  side,  while  the  record  sheet  is  of  manifold  tissue 
and  transparent.  By  placing  a  piece  of  full  carbon  be- 
tween the  second  (tissue)  sheet  and  the  lower  (confirma- 
tion) sheet  and  writing  upon  the  first  (message)  sheet 
you  get  three  copies  of  your  telegram  with  only  one 
writing,  in  this  manner :  the  message  sheet  is  your  orig- 
inal copy,  the  bottom  sheet  takes  an  impression  from 
one  side  of  the  carbon  paper,  and  the  tissue  sheet  takes 
a  reverse  copy,  but  this  tissue  sheet  being  transparent, 
the  copy  shows  through  forward  from  the  reverse  side. 

These  blanks  are  put  up  in  pads  for  use  in  detach- 
able covers  of  one  hundred  triplicate  series  to  the  pad, 
with  blanks  numbered  consecutively  in  triplicate. 


SCHEMES  FOB  SAVING  TIME  119 

These  pads  may  be  put  up  in  either  of  two  forms.  If 
the  sender  wishes  to  keep  all  his  tissue  copies  together 
in  one  pad  for  reference  and  checking  purposes,  the 
blanks  can  be  made  up  in  the  form  of  a  wire  stitched 
book,  with  the  message  sheet  and  confirmation  sheet 
perforated  about  one  inch  from  the  binding  edge,  since 
they  must  be  torn  out  to  be  sent  away.  This  then  leaves 
the  tissue  bound  in  the  book.  In  this  case,  a  few  white 
sheets  are  bound  into  the  front  of  the  pad,  alphabetically 
divided,  to  serve  as  an  index.  When  the  pad  has  been 
used  up  it  can  be  taken  out  of  the  detachable  cover, 
filed  away,  and  a  new  pad  will  be  inserted  into  the  cover. 

Should  the  sender  wish  to  write  his  telegrams  on  a 
typewriter,  a  pad  may  be  used  wherein  the  blanks  are 
merely  blocked  in  threes.  When  writing  a  message,  the 
typist  tears  off  a  triplicate  set,  inserts  the  tissue  as  be- 
fore, sends  out  the  message  and  confirmation  sheet ;  and 
files  the  tissue  on  a  post  binder  (for  which  purpose  the 
sheets  are  punched  with  holes  in  the  margin)  indexing 
the  message  on  the  index  sheets  of  the  pad. 

The  principal  advantages  derived  in  using  this  sys- 
tem are  that  it  prevents  errors,  as  you  have  the  exact 
copy  of  your  message  as  sent  to  the  telegraph  office  to 
mail  your  correspondent ;  this  avoids  disputes  and  acts  aa 
a  safeguard  in  that  the  confirmation  copy  can  be  mailed 
and  in  many  cases  saves  writing  a  letter.  You  are  sure 
to  get  a  copy  of  your  message  for  your  record,  for  you 
make  it  when  you  write  your  telegram.  You  have  all 
your  copies  in  pad  form  and  you  can  easily  refer  to 
former  messages.  When  your  telegraph  bill  is  presented 
you  can  easily  check  same  as  to  number  of  words,  dateg, 
and  so  on.  A  record  can  be  kept  as  to  the  time  the 
telegram  leaves  your  office  and  whether  it  went  "Paid" 


120          SHOBT  CUTS  THAT  SAVE  TIME 

or  "Collect,"  these  records  appearing  on  all  three  copies. 
Cipher  translations  also  are  noted  on  the  office  copy. 
In  an  office  where  the  vertical  system  of  correspond- 
ence filing  is  used,  it  is  usually  desired  to  file  copies  of 
telegrams  with  the  correspondence.  In  this  case  the 
pad  described  above  can  be  used;  the  tissue,  instead  of 
being  placed  on  a  binder,  can  be  filed  direct  in  the  cor- 
respondence files,  without  being  entered  on  a  pad  index. 
Or,  better  still,  the  tissue  can  be  placed  on  the  binder 
until  it  has  been  checked  against  the  telegraph  com- 
pany's bills  and  then  filed. 

A  J? older  Record  for  Advertising  Contracts — V&r*. 
tical  File  Checking  Scheme 

In  "checking  up"  advertising  it  is  convenient  for  the 
advertiser  to  have  all  the  data  applying  to  each  con- 
tract separately  analyzed  and  arranged  for  ready  ref- 
erence. This  is  easily  accomplished  by  the  use  of  a 
vertical-file  folder  designed  to  record  all  items  relating 
to  the  copy,  insertions  and  returns  (Form  XV).  This 
blank  will  save  money  in  showing  unprofitablemediums. 

The  second  leaf  of  the  folder  projects  sufficiently  to 
afford  an  index  showing  the  name  and  address  of  each 
publication  used  and  the  contract  number.  On  the 
inside  of  the  first  leaf  is  pasted  a  copy  of  the  contract, 
while  the  first  line  of  the  first  page  of  the  folder  gives 
the  details  of  the  contract  at  a  glance.  This  arrange- 
ment combines  a  card  record  of  data,  with  a  file  for 
receiving  all  clippings,  proofs,  rough  "set  ups"  and 
special  correspondence. 

The  card  record  on  the  first  leaf  has  a  section  for 
noting  all  insertions;  a  line  of  thirty-one  spaces  for 
each  month. 


SCHEMES  FOE  SAVING  TIME  121 

Each  square  records  the  number  of  lines  or  inches  used 
under  the  date  published;  or  where  a  uniform  space  is 
alloted  to  each  issue  the  square  is  used  for  an  "O.  K." 
check. 

Should  the  copy  be  keyed  to  trace  direct  inquiries, 
the  name  and  address  of  correspondents  can  be  recorded 
in  proper  columns  arranged  down  the  first  leaf  and 
continuing  on  the  outside  of  the  second  leaf.  A  second 
record  can  be  used  for  this  purpose  and  inserted  in  the 
folder  if  desired. 

A  Ready  File  for  Cost  Quotations — Necessary 
Data  in  a  Nut  Shell 

When  a  purchasing  agent  buys  a  large  amount  of 
goods  from  various  houses,  it  is  essential  to  have  on 
file  for  quick  reference  a  record  of  costs  for  different 
supplies.  One  man  uses  for  this  purpose  a  card  system 
which  has  been  of  practical  service  in  his  office  for  some 
time. 

These  cards  are  arranged  alphabetically  according 
to  the  names  of  the  articles.  In  this  way  all  the  prices 
for  the  same  article  are  together  and  are  easy  of  ac- 
cess for  comparison.  This  is  particularly  useful  when 
a  salesman  comes  in  and  names  a  price.  The  quotations 
of  all  his  competitors  for  comparison  can  be  seen  at  a 
glance.  In  the  wide  column  is  a  notation  of  the  name 
of  the  article  as  it  is  known  to  the  manufacturer. 

For  example:  "Varnish,  Eeed  Flowing  Spec."  An 
order  made  out  in  terms  familiar  to  the  concern  which 
receives  it  will  be  filled  with  more  speed  and  accuracy. 

How  many  times  is  an  order  received  reading:  "Ten 
Bbls.  Varnish,  Same  as  Last."  This  makes  the  order 
elerk  look  up  back  charges,  which  takes  time,  and  often 


SCHEMES  FOR  SAVING  TIME  123 

he  picks  out  the  wrong  "Last."  Then  comes  a  column 
showing  the  usual  quantity  purchased,  which  saves  look- 
ing up  previ  )us  orders  or  old  invoices  and  prevents  or- 
dering too  much  or  too  little.  Then  come  the  discount 
terms  and  a  notation  to  show  whether  delivered  or  not, 
Y  stan  ling  for  delivered  and  N.  for  F.  O.  B.  works. 
Then  follows  the  price. 

These  cards  are  made  the  proper  depth  to  fit  in  the 
top  drawer  of  a  desk.  In  keeping  them  in  a  drawer 
they  are  lock  >d  up  at  night  and  if  they  are  to  be  re- 
ferred to  in  the  presence  of  a  salesman  it  can  be  done 
without  the  salesman  seeing  other  quotations. 

A  Time  Saver  for  Foreign  Correspondence — Re- 
ceiving Your  Own  Letter 

Even  with  the  present  time-saving  correspondence 
methods,  a  reply  to  a  letter  received  several  days  or 
weeks  subsequent  to  the  dispatch  of  the  original  neces- 
sitates some  amount  of  time  in  reading  the  copy  of  the 
original  on  file  or  in  the  copy  book. 

Especially  is  this  true  of  letters  sent  on  long  journeys 
to  foreign  countries  where  considerable  time  is  involved 
in  the  transmission  of  the  mails.  The  following  system 
for  refreshing  the  memory  of  any  person  who  may  have 
to  wait  some  time  before  he  receives  a  reply  to  his  com- 
munication, is  in  use  in  the  offices  of  a  Toronto  Com- 
pany. It  is  found  to  meet  the  needs  of  foreign  corres- 
pondence in  every  way. 

When  a  letter  is  written  to  some  distant  foreign  ad- 
dress, a  tissue  carbon  copy  bearing  printed  instruction 
for  its  return  (Form  XVI)  is  made  along  with  the 
original  letter.  The  copy  is  not  for  filing,  but  is  mailed 
attached  to  the  original  letter.  If  the  recipient  of  the 


124          SHORT  CUTS  THAT  SAVE  TIME 


ssL-r  SIMPSON  u°rr 

.-    TORONTO,  C.    «AOA 


Form  XVI:    Showing  sample  carbon  copy  used  in  the  correspondence  of  a  Canadian 
manufacturing  company.    This  copy  is  returned  with  the  answer 

letter  replies,  he  sends  back  the  carbon  copy  attached  to 
his  own  answer  so  that  when  the  writer  of  the  original 
letter  receives  the  latter  communication,  he  has  both  his 
own  letter  and  the  reply  before  him,  and  need  not  trouble 
about  having  the  copy  in  the  files  looked  up,  with  the 
resulting  delay. 

In  making  this  tissue  carbon,  little  extra  work  is  in- 
curred, as  the  stenographer  has  only  to  insert  it  in  the 
typewriter  along  with  the  regular  copy. 

Getting  Full  Value  Out  of  Publications — A  Sub- 
ject Catalog  for  Magazines 

By  properly  indexing  important  articles  in  publica- 
tions, the  reader  will  derive  real  benefit  from  his  read- 
ing. Moreover,  he  will  find  that  the  index  takes  little  time, 
yet  enables  him  to  refer  back  immediately  to  every  idea 
on  every  subject  in  which  he  is  interested,  that  has  ap- 
peared in  the  recent  magazines.  The  extent  of  the  index 
will  depend  upon  the  number  of  things  in  which  the 
reader  finds  profit. 

Here  is  a  man  whose  interests  were  inclusive  and  cov- 
ered a  wide  range  of  subjects.  The  alphabetical  classifi- 


SCHEMES  FOR  SAVING  TIME  125 

cation  of  them  is  as  follows:  Accounts,  advertising,  bill- 
ing, book-keeping,  collections,  correspondence,  credits, 
employees,  factory — manufacturing,  investments,  law, 
mail  order,  office  detail,  organization,  purchasing,  buy- 
ing, retail,  saving,  selling— salesmen,  shipping,  stock- 
ing. 

Every  volume  of  the  paper  or  magazine  is  preserved, 
being  filed  according  to  the  date  of  issue.  Each  issue 
is  read  carefully  upon  its  receipt.  The  vital  parts  of 
each  article  are  marked  either  with  underlining  or  by 
marginal  markings,  so  that  in  referring  back  to  the  filed 
volume  it  is  unnecessary  to  read  the  entire  article 
through  to  locate  the  idea  to  which  reference  is  made. 

For  purposes  of  reference  one  will  prepare  a  card  in- 
dex (Form  XVII)  with  cards  3x5  inches.  The  cards 
are  filed  alphabetically  according  to  the  list  of  subjects 
noted.  On  each  card  is  recorded  the  general  subject, 
name  of  magazine,  date,  page  number  and  specific  sub- 
ject of  the  article. 


NAME:  PUBLISHER; 


Form  XVII:    This  form  <>f  file  card  is  a  useful  accessory  to  magazine  and  general 

readiitf .     Data  necessary  to  the  purchase  of  the  book  is  followed 

I     a  summary  of  the  book's  points 


126          SHORT  CUTS  THAT  SAVE  TIME 

It  is  sometimes  well  to  go  even  further  and  give  a 
synopsis  of  the  trend  of  the  article  and  the  conclusions 
reached  in  it,  with  whatever  ideas  of  importance  it  may 
have  suggested  to  you. 

The  filing  is  done  by  subjects  and  subheads.  For  in- 
stance, all  cards  referring  to  factory  methods  are  filed 
together  under  "Factory."  But  these  cards  are  again 
classified  under  "Costs,"  " Stockkeeping, "  "Equip- 
ment," and  so  on,  in  alphabetical  order,  with  as  much 
detail  as  is  desired. 

Simplifying  the  Tickler  File — A   Reminder  for 
Sundays  and  Holidays 

The  tickler  file  where  assorted  memoranda  are  placed  for 
attention  on  each  day  of  the  month,  has  guide  cards 
numbered  for  each  day  from  one  to  thirty-one.  In 
filing  subjects  after  these  guides  it  is  necessary  to  find 
out  in  advance  what  dates  Sunday  will  fall  on  and 
avoid  filing  anything  under  these  cards. 

In  order  to  simplify  this  process  and  make  one  calcu- 
lation do  for  the  entire  month,  I  attach  a  paper  clip  to 
the  guide  for  each  Sunday  or  holiday  and  so  avoid  the 
necessity  of  adding  up  the  days  of  the  month.  This  is 
more  satisfactory  than  taking  the  cards  temporarily 
from  the  file  as  in  most  cases  they  will  be  lost  or  cause 
confusion ;  for  the  user,  finding  them  abst  at-  may  forget 
that  they  represent  a  Sunday  and  be  under  the  impres- 
sion that  he  has  lost  some  memoranda. 

Real  Business  Helps  and  Hints  That  May  be 
Had  from  Catalog  Literature 

Catalogs,  as  they  are  now  prepared,  constitute  some 
of  the  most  valuable  literature  of  the  business  house. 


SCHEMES  FOE  SAVING  TIME  127 

The  man  at  the  desk,  however,  often  thinks  the  mass  of 
booklets  a  nuisance,  for  he  does  not  know  what  to  do 
with  them.  The  spare  drawers  of  his  desk  are  soon 
crowded  with  catalogs  which  he  is  holding  for  reference 
and  he  looks  for  a  place  to  file  the  surplus. 

He  wants  to  save  the  catalogs,  and  he  wants  them 
classified  so  that  he  can  find  them  readily. 

In  filing  and  indexing  these  catalogs  there  are  two 
problems  to  solve.  In  the  first  place  no  two  catalogs 
are  of  the  same  size.  If  economy  in  space  is  any  object 
— and  it  usually  is — it  will  be  impossible  to  file  catalogs 
referring  to  the  same  articles  together,  because  they  will 
be  of  such  various  sizes. 

It  is  therefore  necessary  to  file  the  catalogs  according 
to  their  size  for  economy  in  space.  The  second  difficulty 
is  in  the  indexing  and  here  the  only  feasible  method  is 
to  have  a  subject  file  and  a  name  file. 

A  series  of  different  sized  vertical  files  arranged  in  one 
stack  should  be  used  for  filing  the  catalogs.  The  stack 
may  begin  with  the  regular  10  by  11  catalog,  which  is  a 
maximum  size.  Then  there  should  be  drawers  gradu- 
ally growing  smaller  until  the  pamphlet  size  is  reached. 

As  catalogs  come  in  they  are  filed  in  the  drawer  which 
fits  their  size.  Each  set  of  sizes  is  given  a  series  of 
numbers  beginning  with  A.  Each  catalog  as  it  is  placed 
in  the  file  is  given  a  number  beginning  with  1.  This 
makes  the  system  indefinitely  expansible  inasmuch  as,  if 
the  catalogs  outgrow  a  set  of  drawers,  others  can  be 
added  without  interfering  with  the  series  number.  The 
drawers  of  a  certain  size  are  always  put  in  the  same 
series  number.  As  catalogs  come  in  they  are  fitted  to 
the  proper  drawer,  which  gives  the  series  letter  and  their 
consecutive  number  in  the  file.  Two  cards  are  then 


128          SHORT  CUTS  THAT  SAVE  TIME 


NAME 


ADDRESS 


PAGE  FILt  NO. 


DATE 


NAME  OF  MAKER 


PAGE  FILED 


Form  XVIII:   File  cards  by  which  an  index  of  catalogs  may  be  kept  both  by  firm  name 
and  by  commodity,  with  whatever  additional  data  may  be  useful 

made  out:  one  the  name  card  (Form  XVIII),  which 
is  indexed  alphabetically  according  to  the  name  of  the 
article  listed  in  the  catalog. 

The  name  card  is  made  out  to  show  the  name  and 
address  of  the  manufacturer,  the  date  of  issue  of  the 
catalog  (an  important  consideration),  and  the  line  of 
goods  illustrated  in  the  catalog.  On  the  top  of  the 
catalog  is  placed  the  file  number  with  a  blue  ring 
around  it  so  it  will  catch  the  eye  quickly. 

The  article  card  has  the  name  of  the  article  at  the 
top  and  is  filed  according  to  it. 

Newspaper  clippings,  scraps  and  advertisements  are 
slipped  into  an  envelope  marked  with  the  subject  of 
which  they  treat,  and  placed  with  the  smaller  catalogs. 

With  this  system  the  desk  man  can  find  where  he  can 
buy  any  line  of  goods.  His  file  index  will  tell  him  just 
where  the  catalog  is  and  the  page  on  which  is  described 
the  article  in  which  he  is  interested. 


REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FAClur/ 


000  688  901     8 


